Semele

[sem-uh-lee]

noun Classical Mythology.

a daughter of Cadmus and mother, by Zeus, of Dionysus.

Compare Thyone.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for semele

Historical Examples of semele

With thunders and lightnings he entered the chamber of Semele.
The Classic Myths in English Literature and in Art (2nd ed.) (1911)
Charles Mills Gayley
Bacchus brings his mother Semele from the Underworld to Olympus.
An Introduction to Mythology
Lewis Spence
Then, mounted on a pale flash of lightning, he darted back to Semele.
Myths of Greece and Rome
H. A. Guerber
Let these lads be added to the list of Dana and Semele and Io.
A Problem in Greek Ethics
John Addington Symonds
Like Semele, I scorned the sports of mortals and thought only of my Beloved.
The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road
Hildegard G. Frey

British Dictionary definitions for semele

Semele

noun

Greek myth mother of Dionysus by Zeus

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 semele

Semele

daughter of Cadmus and mother of Dionysus, from Latin, from Greek Semele, a Thraco-Phrygian earth goddess, from Phrygian Zemele "mother of the earth," probably cognate with Old Church Slavonic zemlja "earth," Latin humus "earth, ground, soil" (see chthonic).