MEDUSA'S HEAD • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Medusa's head

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/mədˈusəz hɛd/ Listen

noun

Medusa n.

(Class. Myth.) The Gorgon; or one of the Gorgons whose hair was changed into serpents, after which all who looked upon her were turned into stone.

((pl. medusae)) (Zool.) Any free swimming acaleph; a jellyfish. Note: The larger medusae belong to the Discophora, and are sometimes called covered-eyed medusae; others, known as naked-eyed medusae, belong to the Hydroidea, and are usually developed by budding from hydroids. See Discophora, Hydroidea, and Hydromedusa.

Medusa bud (Zool.), one of the buds of a hydroid, destined to develop into a gonophore or medusa. See Athecata, and Gonotheca.

Medusa's head.

(a)

(Zool.) An astrophyton.

(b)

(Astron.) A cluster of stars in the constellation Perseus. It contains the bright star Algol.

See images of 'Medusa's head'

Etymology of 'Medusa's head'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Medusa's head" Quotes from Famous Books

... Lady Henrietta had exclaimed that he appeared ill before on his return, she was dumb now with sorrow at the change. For Paul had looked upon Medusa's head of horror, and, as well as his heart, his face seemed turned to stone. He was gentle with his mother, and let her caress him as much as she would, but nothing any one could say could move him—even Pike's ...

— Three Weeks • Elinor Glyn

... so anxious to do so. Look here, Clement. I stood there among the crowd this evening, gazing upon that bleeding and dying woman, until the sight of her ghastly form and face seemed to affect me as the Medusa's head was said to have affected the beholder, and turn me into stone. Clement, I was so petrified that I could not move or speak, even when she appealed to us all to know whether any among us could believe her to be capable of such an act. I could not speak; I could not move. ...

— Cruel As The Grave • Mrs. Emma D. E. N. Southworth

... hiss like Medusa's head in wrath, and who was, I think, fonder of the sound than any other of our poets. Indeed, in compounds of the kind we always make a distinction wholly independent of the doubled s. Nobody would boggle ...

— Among My Books • James Russell Lowell

... flew,—Athene gave him wings.—Well, so when he got to where the Gorgons were living, he caught them napping, I suppose, cut off Medusa's head, and flew away. ...

— Works, V1 • Lucian of Samosata