Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Relating to Cadmus, a legendary hero, founder of Thebes in Bœotia, who is said to have introduced into Greece, from Phenicia, the sixteen simple letters of the Greek alphabet,
α ,β ,γ ,δ ,ε ,ι ,κ ,λ ,μ ,ν ,ο ,π ,ρ ,σ ,τ ,υ , which are therefore called Cadmean letters.
Wiktionary
- adj. Of or relating to Cadmus, a mythical prince of Thebes, said to have introduced into Greece the sixteen simple letters of the alphabet.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to Cadmus, a fabulous prince of Thebes, who was said to have introduced into Greece the sixteen simple letters of the alphabet -- α, β, γ, δ, ε, ι, κ, λ, μ, ν, ο, π, ρ, σ, τ, υ. These are called
Cadmean letters.
Etymologies
- Latin (Wiktionary)
Examples
“And the Phocaians also manned their vessels, sixty in number, and came to meet the enemy in that which is called the Sardinian sea: and when they encountered one another in the sea-fight the Phocaians won a kind of Cadmean victory, for forty of their ships were destroyed and the remaining twenty were disabled, having had their prows bent aside.”
“[29] Proverbial for a victory in which the victor is slain; probably from the story of the Theban, or "Cadmean," heroes Eteocles and”
“The obscure poem of Lycophron enumerates many of these dispersed and expatriated heroes, whose conquest of Troy was indeed a "Cadmean" victory (according to the proverbial phrase of the Greeks), wherein the sufferings of the victor were little inferior to those of the vanquished.”
“Him (Amphiaraus) did the Cadmean (Theban) women with trailing robes admire when they saw face to face his eyes and well-grown frame, as he was busied about the burying of”
“So, Mother used to come home from the Cadmean and tie them up in the corner of her handkerchief [unknown] And the ladies in those days were dressy [unknown] and everybody wore big hats and chiffons and pearls and white gloves and they would discuss literary subjects.”
“Before the Royal Palace in the Cadmean citadel of Thebes.”
“Cadmean victory, as it is called, and at a time when the knowledge can avail them nothing they perceive that their plans were ill drawn.”
“The Cadmean magic has passed from the hands of hierophants into those of the people.”
“Altogether, perhaps, in some way or other, seven-eighths of the life of man is taken up by the Cadmean”
“Popular poetry and music, ballads and legends, wit and originality have disappeared before the barbaric intellectuality of our Cadmean idolatry.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘Cadmean’.
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Fabulous Creatures
Inspired by a Twitter exchange between Kory Stamper and other lexicographers about mythical beings with "fabulous" in their definitions.
mamuque, hippocampus, hippodame, hippogriff, kraken, cockatrice, griffin, centaur, chichevache, hippocentaur, hircocerf, tragelaphus and 40 more...
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