Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Vanessa
‖
Van-es′sa
(văn-ĕs′sȧ)
, Noun.
[Probably from Swift’s poem of Cadenus and
Vanessa
. See Vanessa
, in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.] (Zool.)
Any one of numerous species of handsomely colored butterflies belonging to
Vanessa
and allied genera. Many of these species have the edges of the wings irregularly scalloped. Definition 2024
Vanessa
Vanessa
See also: vanessa
Translingual
Etymology
New Latin from the Ancient Greek deity Φάνης (Phánēs). Named by Johan Christian Fabricius.
Proper noun
Vanessa f
- A taxonomic genus within the family Nymphalidae – brush-footed butterflies including the red admirals.
Hypernyms
- (genus): Insecta class; Dicondylia - clade; Pterygota - subclass; Metapterygota - clade; Neoptera - infraclass; Eumetabola, Endopterygota - clades; Panorpida - superorder; Amphiesmenoptera - clade; Lepidoptera - order; Glossata - suborder; Heteroneura - infraorder; Ditrysia - division; Cossina - section; Bombycina - subsection; Papilionoidea - superfamily; Papilioniformes - series; Nymphalidae - family; Nymphalinae - subfamily; Nymphalini - tribe
English
Proper noun
Vanessa
- A female given name.
- 1726 Jonathan Swift, Cadenus and Vanessa:
- Vanessa be the Name / By which thou shalt be known to Fame. / Vanessa, by the Gods enroll'd: / Her Name on Earth - shall not be told.
- 1978 Maeve Binchy, Victoria Line, Central Line, Arrow 1993, ISBN 0099218216, page 178, 179:
- A kind of girl that May had before only seen in the pages of fashion magazines, bored, disdainful, elegant, reluctantly admitted her. - - - She was asked to see Vanessa on the way out. She knew that the girl would be called something like Vanessa.
- 1726 Jonathan Swift, Cadenus and Vanessa:
Translations
female given name
References
- ↑ Paul J. DeGategno, R. Jay Stubblefield, Critical Companion to Jonathan Swift (2006), page 42
German
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [vaˈnɛsa]
- Hyphenation: Va‧nes‧sa
Proper noun
Vanessa
- A female given name recently borrowed from English.