murex

[myoo r-eks]

noun, plural mu·ri·ces [myoo r-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.

Origin of murex

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for murex

Historical Examples of murex

But murex or no murex, Purple was discovered by my ancestors.
The Book of Khalid
Ameen Rihani
It was produced by a combination of the secretions of the murex and buccinum.
Museum of Antiquity
L. W. Yaggy
Some, again, are smooth, others nearly as rough as the Murex trunculus.
History of Phoenicia
George Rawlinson
The genus Murex is supposed to have been the first species indicated by Aristotle.
The Ocean World:
Louis Figuier
Certainly not; the flesh of the murex can provide a pigment as well as food.
The Works of Lucian of Samosata, v. 4
Lucian of Samosata

British Dictionary definitions for murex

murex

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

Word Origin and History for murex

kind of shellfish which yields a purple dye, 1580s, from Latin murex (plural murices) "purple fish, purple dye," probably cognate with Greek myax "sea mussel," of unknown origin, perhaps related to mys "mouse" (see muscle (n.) and mussel).