Definition of Laocoon

1. Noun. (Greek mythology) the priest of Apollo who warned the Trojans to beware of Greeks bearing gifts when they wanted to accept the Trojan Horse; a god who favored the Greeks (Poseidon or Athena) sent snakes who coiled around Laocoon and his two twin sons killing them.

Category relationships: Greek Mythology
Generic synonyms: Mythical Being

Definition of Laocoon

1. Proper noun. (mythology) A Trojan priest of Poseidon (or Apollo, depending on the author), whose rules he had defied (or had otherwise offended), who tried to warn his fellow citizens against the Trojan horse. He was killed for this, along with his two sons, by giant snakes sent by Minerva (or Poseidon, or Apollo). ¹

2. Proper noun. (mythology) An Argonaut, son of Porthaon. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Medical Definition of Laocoon

1. 1. A priest of Apollo, during the Trojan war. (See 2) 2. A marble group in the Vatican at Rome, representing the priest Laocoon, with his sons, infolded in the coils of two serpents, as described by Virgil. Origin: L, fr. Gr. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Laocoon

lanting
lants
lantskip
lantskips
lantzman
lantzmen
lanuginous
lanugo
lanugo hair
lanugos
lanx
lanyard
lanyards
lanyer
lanyers
laocoon (current term)
laogai
laogais
laojiao
lap
lap-dance
lap-dancer
lap-dances
lap-dog
lap-jointed
lap-pool
lap-strake
lap-straked
lap-streak
lap-streaked

Literary usage of Laocoon

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The History of the Popes: From the Close of the Middle Ages. Drawn from the by Ludwig Pastor (1902)
"J Bramante commissioned several sculptors to make models in wax of the laocoon for the mould of a copy to be executed in brass ; he appointed Raphael judge ..."

2. New Englander and Yale Review by Edward Royall Tyler, William Lathrop Kingsley, George Park Fisher, Timothy Dwight (1879)
"LESSING'S laocoon.*—Once more the immortal fragment of Lessing is issued, this time not as a translation, but as a text-book for use in schools and colleges ..."

3. The New Englander by William Lathrop Kingsley (1879)
"LESSING'S laocoon.*—Once more the immortal fragment of leasing is issued, this time not as a translation, but as a text-book for use in schools and colleges ..."

4. Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities by Shearjashub Spooner (1865)
"MICHAEL ANGELO'S OPINION OF THE laocoon. It is said that Julius II. desired Angelo to restore the missing arm behind the laocoon. He commenced it, but left ..."

5. A History of English Balladry: And Other Studies by Frank Egbert Bryant (1913)
"He says: "The occasion of the laocoon was such as to show with a force amounting to irony, the superior importance of ideas as compared with particular ..."

6. A History of Sculpture by Ernest Henry Short (1907)
"The serpent's coil should come up to the neck of laocoon, and his right hand ... Indeed the technical beauty of "The laocoon" has never been questioned. ..."

7. Troy: Its Legend, History and Literature by Samuel Greene Wheeler Benjamin (1880)
"But the warning of laocoon was unheeded. Blinded by the gods, and anxious to relieve their ... The stars had begun to shine in the western sky, and laocoon ..."

8. A New General Biographical Dictionary by Hugh James Rose (1848)
"Borghini and Winkelman place the laocoon and its sculptors in the most brilliant era of Grecian art ; while Les- sing, in his ' laocoon,' attempts to prove ..."

Other Resources:

Search for Laocoon on Dictionary.com!Search for Laocoon on Thesaurus.com!Search for Laocoon on Google!Search for Laocoon on Wikipedia!