English

Proper noun

Niobe f

1. (Greek Mythology) A daughter of Tantalus, said to have turned into stone while weeping for her children.
2. (astronomy) Short for 71 Niobe, a main belt asteroid.
3. A female given name

Translations

Noun

Niobe ‎(plural Niobes)

1. A crying woman; a woman who is bereaved or inconsolable. [from 16th c.]
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Troilus & Cressida, V.11:

     There is a word will Priam turne to stone, Make wells and Niobe’s of the maides and wiues.

   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa:

     But when a man has been ranging, like the painful bee, from flower to flower, perhaps for a month together, and the thoughts of home and wife begin to have their charms with him, to be received by a Niobe, who, like a wounded vine, weeps her vitals away, while she but involuntarily curls about him; how shall I be able to bear that?