Argus


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Ar·gus

 (är′gəs)
n.
1. Greek Mythology A giant with 100 eyes who was made guardian of Io and was later slain by Hermes.
2. An alert or watchful person; a guardian.

[Latin, from Greek Argos.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

argus

(ˈɑːɡəs)
n
(Animals) any of various brown butterflies, esp the Scotch argus (Erebia aethiops) found on moorland and in forests up to a height of 2000 m

Argus

(ˈɑːɡəs)
n
1. (Classical Myth & Legend) Greek myth a giant with a hundred eyes who was made guardian of the heifer Io. After he was killed by Hermes his eyes were transferred to the peacock's tail
2. a vigilant person; guardian
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Ar•gus

(ˈɑr gəs)

n.
1. (in Greek myth) a giant with 100 eyes set to guard the heifer Io.
2. any observant or vigilant person; a watchful guardian.
[< Latin < Greek Árgos, derivative of argós bright, shining]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.Argus - (Greek mythology) a giant with 100 eyes; was guardian of the heifer Io and was slain by Hermes
Greek mythology - the mythology of the ancient Greeks
giant - an imaginary figure of superhuman size and strength; appears in folklore and fairy tales
2.Argus - large brilliantly patterned East Indian pheasantargus - large brilliantly patterned East Indian pheasant
pheasant - large long-tailed gallinaceous bird native to the Old World but introduced elsewhere
Argusianus, genus Argusianus - argus pheasants
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

Argus

[ˈɑːgəs] NArgos
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
References in classic literature ?
Thus shamefully did Achilles in his fury dishonour Hector; but the blessed gods looked down in pity from heaven, and urged Mercury, slayer of Argus, to steal the body.
The gods would have Mercury slayer of Argus steal the body, but in furtherance of our peace and amity henceforward, I will concede such honour to your son as I will now tell you.
(as we said) must ever be well weighed; and generally it is good, to commit the beginnings of all great actions to Argus, with his hundred eyes, and the ends to Briareus, with his hundred hands; first to watch, and then to speed.
And the family knew his feet were itching and his brain was tingling with the old madness, when he lifted his hoarse-cracked voice, now falsetto-cracked, in: Like Argus of the ancient times, We leave this modern Greece, Tum-tum, tum-tum, tum, tum, tum-tum, To shear the Golden Fleece.
The frigate might have been called the Argus, for a hundred reasons.
And he charged Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argus, to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature.
And have not I, besides all this, an Argus so much the more dangerous as he has the keen eyes of hatred?
But, so much more powerful were the frailties of Sloppy's form than the strongest resources of tailoring science, that he now stood before the Council, a perfect Argus in the way of buttons: shining and winking and gleaming and twinkling out of a hundred of those eyes of bright metal, at the dazzled spectators.
Accordingly, when Frank presented himself at Combe-Raven on the eventful morning, there stood Miss Garth, prepared -- in the interpolated character of Argus -- to accompany Lucy and Falkland to the scene of trial.
When I had got into bed, and lay there footsore, weary, and wretched, I found that I could no more close my own eyes than I could close the eyes of this foolish Argus. And thus, in the gloom and death of the night, we stared at one another.
The ferocity of their fierce faces was accentuated by the upturned, bristling tiger cat's teeth which protruded from every ear; while the long feathers of the Argus pheasant waving from their war-caps, the brilliant colors of their war-coats trimmed with the black and white feathers of the hornbill, and the strange devices upon their gaudy shields but added to the savagery of their appearance as they danced and howled, menacing and intimidating, in the path of the charging foe.
"Go to Argus, the shipbuilder, and bid him build a galley with fifty oars."