Pierides

American  

[pahy-er-i-deez] / paɪˈɛr ɪˌdiz /

plural noun

Classical Mythology.

1. the Muses.

2. nine Thessalian maidens who challenged the Muses to a singing contest, lost, and were changed into magpies for insulting the victors.

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Pierides British  

/ paɪˈɪərɪˌdiːz /

plural noun

1. the Muses See Muse

2. nine maidens of Thessaly, who were defeated in a singing contest by the Muses and turned into magpies for their effrontery

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Example Sentences

I remember that, in "The Pursuits of Literature,"—a satirical poem once universally famous,—the lines about Mnemosyne and her daughters, the Pierides, are cited as exhibiting matchless sublimity.

From Autobiographical Sketches by De Quincey, Thomas

I wander afield, thriving in sturdy thought, Through unpathed haunts of the Pierides, Trodden by step of none before.

From On the Nature of Things by Leonard, William Ellery

Constitutionally vigorous and daily refreshed by draughts from the pellucid springs of the Pierides, they led a life of exuberant health, as the vital statistics of the neighbourhood would abundantly show.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, June 16, 1920 by Various

Here be shadows large and long; Here be spaces meet for song; Grant, O garden-god, that I, Now that none profane is nigh,— Now that mood and moment please,— Find the fair Pierides!

From Bulchevy's Book of English Verse by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

"Thy singer has learned his art from a teacher heavenlier than the Pierides, and its name is Hope."

From Pausanias, the Spartan The Haunted and the Haunters, an Unfinished Historical Romance by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron