thyrsus
Americannoun
plural
thyrsi-
Botany. a thyrse.
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Greek Antiquity. a staff tipped with a pine cone and sometimes twined with ivy and vine branches, borne by Dionysus and his votaries.
noun
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Greek myth a staff, usually one tipped with a pine cone, borne by Dionysus (Bacchus) and his followers
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a variant spelling of thyrse
Etymology
Origin of thyrsus
1585–95; < Latin < Greek thýrsos Bacchic staff, stem of plant
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.
In last year's district finals, Melody, a straight A student at Pittsburgh's Carrick Junior High, muffed thyrsus, placed second.
From Time Magazine Archive
Bacchantes, Thyades, and Mænads, girt with the dappled fawn-skin, waved the thyrsus encircled with ivy.
From Anatole France The Revolt of the Angels by France, Anatole
The deity himself, crowned with ivy and berries, clothed in a short tunic and a pallium agitated by the breeze, holds in his right hand the thyrsus, and lifts his left in token of admiration.
From Museum of Antiquity A Description of Ancient Life by Haines, T. L. (Thomas Louis)
She waved a thyrsus, and pressed the grapes to her mouth....
From Psyche by Couperus, Louis
The thyrsus, however, was a javelin twisted with ivy-leaves, used in the sacrifices of Bacchus.
From The Lusiad or The Discovery of India, an Epic Poem by Camões, Luís de
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.
