Lexic.us

Definition of Phoenix

1. Noun. The state capital and largest city located in south central Arizona; situated in a former desert that has become a prosperous agricultural area thanks to irrigation.

2. Noun. A large monocotyledonous genus of pinnate-leaved palms found in Asia and Africa.

3. Noun. A legendary Arabian bird said to periodically burn itself to death and emerge from the ashes as a new phoenix; according to most versions only one phoenix lived at a time and it renewed itself every 500 years.

4. Noun. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Tucana and Sculptor.

Definition of Phoenix

1. Proper noun. (mythology) A mythical firebird; especially the sacred one from ancient Egyptian mythology ¹

2. Proper noun. (constellation) A spring constellation of the southern sky, said to resemble the mythical bird. It lies north of Tucana. ¹

3. Proper noun. (Greek mythology) A character in the Iliad and father of Adonis in Greek mythology or a different character in Greek mythology, brother of Europa and Cadmus ¹

4. Proper noun. The capital city of Arizona, United States. ¹

5. Proper noun. A nickname sometimes used for Japan after World War II. ¹

6. Proper noun. (alternative spelling of (Phoenix)) ¹

7. Noun. (mythology) A mythological bird, said to be the only one of its kind, which lives for 500 years and then dies by burning to ashes on a pyre of its own making, ignited by the sun. It then arises anew from the ashes. ¹

8. Noun. (figuratively) Anything that is reborn after apparently being destroyed. Usually used as a simile. ¹

9. Noun. (alternative form of phenix) ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Phoenix

1. a mythical bird [n -ES]

Medical Definition of Phoenix

1. 1. Same as Phenix. 2. A genus of palms including the date tree. Origin: L, a fabulous bird. See Phenix. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Phoenix

phocodontia phocomeli phocomelias phocomelic dwarfism phocomelus phodopus phoebe phoebe bird phoebes phoebus

phoebuses phoenicochroite phoenicochroites phoenicopterus phoenix (current term) phoenix tree phoenixes phoenixlike phoetal phoeti

phoetus phoetuses phogrin phoh phohs pholad pholadean pholades pholads

Literary usage of Phoenix

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

1. The Critical Review, Or, Annals of Literature by Tobias George Smollett (1781)
"... which chiefly induce him to believe, that this comet is the phoenix, ... average about 57^ years : this certainly agrees with the Return of the phoenix, ..."

2. Palmer's Index to "The Times" Newspaper (1871)
"Lord Mayor Declines a Knighthood, 10 n 5 e 9 n 10 c—10 a 5 e—18 a 8 a • Riot in phoenix Park, 7 а 9/—8 a 12 4— - Addresses and Letters about, ..."

3. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: “a” Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature edited by Hugh Chisholm (1911)
"That the bcnu is the prototype of the phoenix is further confirmed by the fact that the former word in Egyptian means also "palm-tree," just as the latter ..."

4. Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, by John Gardner Wilkinson (1841)
"Some have thought that, by the phoenix, the Egyptians intended to indicate the appearance of Comets; and I have seen a paper written to prove that the ..."

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