MEDUSA (medusae)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: medusae   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Medusa mean? 

• MEDUSA (noun)
  The noun MEDUSA has 2 senses:

1. (Greek mythology) a woman transformed into a Gorgon by Athena; she was slain by Perseus

2. one of two forms that coelenterates take: it is the free-swimming sexual phase in the life cycle of a coelenterate; in this phase it has a gelatinous umbrella-shaped body and tentacles

  Familiarity information: MEDUSA used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MEDUSA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(Greek mythology) a woman transformed into a Gorgon by Athena; she was slain by Perseus

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Medusa" is a kind of...):

Gorgon ((Greek mythology) any of three winged sister monsters and the mortal Medusa who had live snakes for hair; a glance at Medusa turned the beholder to stone)

Domain category:

Greek mythology (the mythology of the ancient Greeks)

Sense 2

Meaning:

One of two forms that coelenterates take: it is the free-swimming sexual phase in the life cycle of a coelenterate; in this phase it has a gelatinous umbrella-shaped body and tentacles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

medusa; medusan; medusoid

Hypernyms ("medusa" is a kind of...):

cnidarian; coelenterate (radially symmetrical animals having saclike bodies with only one opening and tentacles with stinging structures; they occur in polyp and medusa forms)

Holonyms ("medusa" is a member of...):

Cnidaria; Coelenterata; phylum Cnidaria; phylum Coelenterata (hydras; polyps; jellyfishes; sea anemones; corals)

 Context examples 

"I thought Medusa had looked at you, and that you were turning to stone. Perhaps now you will ask how much you are worth?"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In place of his own, "Medusa Lights," the editor had printed, "The Backward Track."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The beautiful colour became livid, the eyes seemed to throw out sparks of hell-fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the folds of the flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes, and the lovely, blood-stained mouth grew to an open square, as in the passion masks of the Greeks and Japanese.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)