Adjacent Words

Polyphemus definitions

	Tweet

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin, from Greek Polyph?mos Date: 14th century a Cyclops whom Odysseus blinds in order to escape from his cave

Britannica Concise

In Greek mythology, a Cyclops. He was the son of Poseidon and the nymph Thoö sa. When Odysseus and his companions were cast ashore on the coast of Sicily, Polyphemus imprisoned them in his cave with the intention of eating them. Odysseus got the giant drunk and then blinded him by plunging a burning stake into his single eye. When Polyphemus opened his cave in the morning, Odysseus and the six men the giant had not yet devoured made their escape by clinging to the bellies of sheep let out to pasture.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Polyphemus Pol`y*phe"mus, n. [L. Polyphemus the one-eyed Cyclops who was blinded by Ulysses.] (Zo["o]l.) A very large American moth (Telea polyphemus) belonging to the Silkworm family (Bombycid[ae]). Its larva, which is very large, bright green, with silvery tubercles, and with oblique white stripes on the sides, feeds on the oak, chestnut, willow, cherry, apple, and other trees. It produces a large amount of strong silk. Called also American silkworm.