Paphian
Americanadjective
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of or relating to Paphos, an ancient city of Cyprus sacred to Aphrodite.
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of or relating to love, especially illicit sexual love; erotic; wanton.
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noting or pertaining to Aphrodite or to her worship or service.
noun
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the Paphian, Aphrodite: so called from her cult center at Paphos.
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(often lowercase) a prostitute.
adjective
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of or relating to Paphos
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of or relating to Aphrodite
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literary of sexual love
Etymology
Origin of Paphian
1605–15; < Latin Paphi ( us ) (< Greek Páphios of Paphos, of Aphrodite) + -an
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
True to his Paphian mother, trace by trace, Slowly the Love-god with prevenient art, Begins the lost Sychæus to efface, And living passion to a breast impart Long dead to feeling, and a vacant heart.
From The Æneid of Virgil Translated into English Verse by E. Fairfax Taylor by Taylor, Edward Fairfax
She is sometimes called the Paphian or Paphia on this account.
From Selections from Wordsworth and Tennyson by Wordsworth, William
PAPHOS: there were two towns of the name, both on the west side of the island of Cyprus, and dedicated to Venus, who was hence the Paphian and the Cyprian goddess.
From A Dialogue Concerning Oratory, Or The Causes Of Corrupt Eloquence The Works Of Cornelius Tacitus, Volume 8 (of 8); With An Essay On His Life And Genius, Notes, Supplements by Tacitus, Cornelius
He rubbed it between both of his cold ones and uttered: 'By the Paphian Queen: by her teams of doves and sparrows!
From Privy Seal His Last Venture by Ford, Ford Madox
They were northern beauties, hard-featured and large-boned, and I would not give a graceful southern hill, like Monte Albano or the Paphian Olympus, for the whole of them.
From Northern Travel Summer and Winter Pictures of Sweden, Denmark and Lapland by Taylor, Bayard
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
