murex

[ myoor-eks ]

/ ˈmyʊər ɛks /

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noun, plural mu·ri·ces

[myoor-uh-seez], /ˈmyʊər əˌsiz/, mu·rex·es.

any marine gastropod of the genus Murex, common in tropical seas, certain species of which yield the royal purple dye valued by the ancients.

a shell used as a trumpet, as in representations of Tritons in art.

purplish red.

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Origin of murex

1580–90; <New Latin, Latin mūrex the shellfish that yielded Tyrian purple dye

Words nearby murex

Murder will out, Murdoch, murdrum, mure, Mures, murex, murexide, murexide test, Murfreesboro, murgeon, Murghob

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use murex in a sentence

They have a real murex—the sea snail that got turned into Tyrian purple—from Phoenicia.
How These Rothkos Were Restored Without Touching the Canvas|Adam Rogers|May 30, 2021|The Daily Beast
He says that Tarentine muslins, woven from the filaments of the pinna dipped in the dye of the murex, rivalled those of Cos.
Needlework As Art|Marian Alford
They eat turtle and drink claret, but who fished up the murex?
The Browning Cyclopdia|Edward Berdoe
None of the Murex family are common, and they are seldom found alive.
Beautiful Shells of New Zealand|E. G. B. Moss

Trigonia and Inoceramus are found in almost all the zones: other forms less widely distributed are Murex and Turritella.
Devonshire|Francis A. Knight
The second wife of Hugh de Sade never stirred the pool of ink from which Petrarch fished his murex up.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 13|Elbert Hubbard

British Dictionary definitions for murex

murex

/ (ˈmjʊərɛks) /

noun plural murices (ˈmjʊərɪˌsiːz)

any of various spiny-shelled marine gastropods of the genus Murex and related genera: formerly used as a source of the dye Tyrian purple

Word Origin for murex

C16: from Latin mūrex purple fish; related to Greek muax sea mussel

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012