Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Gordian
Gor′di-an
,Adj.
1.
Pertaining to Gordius, king of Phrygia, or to a knot tied by him; hence, intricate; complicated; inextricable.
Gordian knot
, an intricate knot tied by Gordius in the thong which connected the pole of the chariot with the yoke. An oracle having declared that he who should untie it should be master of Asia, Alexander the Great averted the ill omen of his inability to loosen it by cutting it with his sword. Hence, a Gordian knot is an inextricable difficulty; and to cut the Gordian knot is to remove a difficulty by bold and energetic measures.
2.
(Zool.)
Pertaining to the Gordiacea.
Gor′di-an
,Noun.
(Zool.)
One of the Gordiacea.
Webster 1828 Edition
Gordian
GORD'IAN
,Adj.
Gordian knot, in antiquity, a knot in the leather or harness of Gordius, a king of Phrygia, so very intricate, that there was no finding where it began or ended. An oracle declared that he who should untie this knot should be master of Asia. Alexander, fearing that his inability to untie it should prove an ill augury, cut it asunder with his sword. Hence, in modern language, a Gordian knot is an inextricable difficulty; and to cut the Gordian knot, is to remove a difficulty by bold or unusual measures.
Definition 2024
Gordian
Gordian
See also: gordian
English
Adjective
Gordian (comparative more Gordian, superlative most Gordian)
- Of or pertaining to Gordium (now Yassihüyük in Turkey), capital of Phrygia.
- Of or pertaining to Gordius, king of Phrygia
- Of the Gordian knot.
- Twisted; convoluted; tied as a knot.
Quotations
| 1667 | 1819 | 2005 | |||||
| ME « | 15th c. | 16th c. | 17th c. | 18th c. | 19th c. | 20th c. | 21st c. |
- 1667 — John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IV
- close the serpent sly, / Insinuating, wove with Gordian twine / His braided train
- 1819 — John Keats, Lamia
- Until he found a palpitating snake,
Bright, and cirque-couchant in a dusky brake.
She was a gordian shape of dazzling hue,
Vermilion-spotted, golden, green, and blue.
- Until he found a palpitating snake,
- 2005 — Lance Parkin, The Gallifrey Chronicles, p 205
- When you put it that way it was so simple, so self-explanatory, so beautiful, so obvious that what had seemed the most Gordian problem was instantly almost mundane, and its elegance was its own proof.
Proper noun
Gordian
- Gordianus, name of three Roman emperors.
Translations
name of Roman emperors
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See also
Anagrams
gordian
gordian
See also: Gordian
English
Adjective
gordian (not comparable)
- Alternative form of Gordian
- 2000 May 26, Kim Nasmyth et al., “Splitting the Chromosome: Cutting the Ties That Bind Sister Chromatids”, in Science, volume 288, number 5470, DOI:, pages 1379-1384:
- The final disentanglement of sister chromatids can only be achieved by cleavage of the "gordian knot" by separin.
- 1818, John Keats, Endymion:
- This fire, like the eye of gordian snake, Bewitch'd me towards; and I soon was near A sight too fearful for the feel of fear: In thicket hid I curs'd the haggard scene-- 500 The banquet of my arms, my arbour queen, Seated upon an uptorn forest root; And all around her shapes, wizard and brute, Laughing, and wailing, groveling, serpenting, Shewing tooth, tusk, and venom-bag, and sting!
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