English

Proper noun

Medusa

1. (Greek mythology): The only mortal of the three gorgon sisters. She is killed by Perseus. The other two sisters were Euryale and Stheno.
   • 1895, Adolf Furtwängler, Eugenie Strong (editor and translator), Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture: A Series of Essays on the History of Art, 2010, ISBN 9781108017121, page 201,

     On an Attic vase of the middle of the fifth century the head of Medusa in the hand of Perseus is represented as that of a beautiful woman free from any distortion. This led us to conclude (supra, p. 158) that Medusa must have been so represented at Athens in the greater arts even previous to this vase, for the vase-painters never invent such bold novelties for themselves.

   • 2000, Nannó Marinatos, The Goddess and the Warrior: The Naked Goddess and Mistress of the Animals in Early Greek Religion, page 62,

     It will be suggested here that the myth of Perseus, involving the decapitation of Medusa, is a narrative version of ritual.

   • 2001, Dennis Berthold, Melville's Medusas, in Sanford E. Marovitz, Athanasios C. Christodoulou (editors), Melville "Among the nations": Proceedings of an International Conference, Volos, Greece, July 2-6, 1997,

     But their depictions of Perseus are remarkably different and demonstrate the ambiguity of Medusa that was seeping into Victorian iconography. In later, Roman versions of the myth, for example Ovid's Metamorphoses, Perseus slays the sea monster with his sword instead of using Medusa’s head to petrify the monster.

Derived terms

• medusafish
• medusahead
• medusal

See also

• Medusa (mythology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Euryale
• Stheno

Translations

Anagrams

• amused

Italian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Μέδουσα ‎(Médousa).

Proper noun

Medusa f

1. (Greek mythology) Medusa

Portuguese

Proper noun

Medusa f

1. (Greek mythology) Medusa (creature with a petrifying gaze)

Spanish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Μέδουσα ‎(Médousa).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /me̞ˈð̞u.sa̠/

Proper noun

Medusa f

1. (Greek mythology) Medusa

English

a medusa
Chrysaora quinquecirrha

Noun

medusa ‎(plural medusas or medusae or medusæ)

1. A jellyfish; specifically (zoology), a non-polyp form of individual cnidarians, consisting of a gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles. [from 18th c.]
   • 2014, Theo Tait, ‘Water-Borne Zombies’, London Review of Books, vol. 36 no. 5:

     Typically, what we think of as the jellyfish, the medusa, reproduces sexually, spawning sperm and eggs which, once fertilised, turn into sea anemone-like polyps, which attach themselves to the jellyfish’s bottom or other surfaces.

Synonyms

• (non-polyp form of cnidarian): jelly, jellyfish

Related terms

• medusal
• medusoid

See also

• jellyfish

Anagrams

• amused

Galician

Noun

medusa f ‎(plural medusas)

1. jellyfish, medusa

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meˈduza/

Noun

medusa f ‎(plural meduse)

1. (animals) A jellyfish.

Derived terms

• meduseo

Anagrams

• desuma

Portuguese

Noun

medusa f (plural medusas)

1. (zoology) medusa (non-polyp form of a cnidarian)

Spanish

Noun

medusa f ‎(plural medusas)

1. jellyfish