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.
Thus Bion, in his Lament: 'A tear the Paphian sheds for each blood-drop of Adonis, and tears and blood on the earth are turned to flowers.
From Storyology Essays in Folk-Lore, Sea-Lore, and Plant-Lore by Benjamin Taylor
You will when she who's guilty And this enamoured Paphian are fled!
From Yolanda of Cyprus by Cale Young Rice
Sobbing, he raised his pinions bright, And flew unto the isle of light, Where, in her beauty, myrtle-crowned, The Paphian goddess sat enthroned.
From A Handbook for Latin Clubs by Susan Paxson
The greatest external peculiarity of the Paphian worship of Venus was the representation of the goddess by a mysterious stone symbol.
From Apollonius of Tyana, the Philosopher-Reformer of the First Century A.D. by George Robert Stowe Mead
Hail to the peddling pessimistic brood Whose "nimini-pimimi" mouths, too small by half To stretch themselves to a Homeric laugh, Mince, in a mirror, to the "Paphian Mimp!"
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 104, February 4, 1893 by Sir F. C. (Francis Cowley) Burnand
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.
