Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the gods.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A taxonomic genus within the family Iridaceae — the irises.
  • proper noun Greek mythology A messenger of the gods, and goddess of rainbows.
  • proper noun A female given name; a flower name used since the end of the 19th century.
  • proper noun astronomy 7 Iris, an asteroid

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin Īris, from Greek, from īris, rainbow; see wei- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Ancient Greek Ἶρις iris "rainbow".

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Examples

  • Pictured: Iris germanica, bearded iris; Iris sibirica "Gull's Wing"

    THE IRRESISTIBLE IRIS Pooky 2008

  • Pictured: Iris germanica, bearded iris; Iris sibirica "Gull's Wing"

    Archive 2008-03-01 Pooky 2008

  • And the iris, named after the Greek messenger goddess of the rainbow, Iris, the sister of the messenger god, Hermes, is what The Green Man calls a "grateful" perennial.

    THE IRRESISTIBLE IRIS Pooky 2008

  • And the iris, named after the Greek messenger goddess of the rainbow, Iris, the sister of the messenger god, Hermes, is what The Green Man calls a "grateful" perennial.

    Archive 2008-03-01 Pooky 2008

  • PRINCETON, N.J. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Sarnoff Corporation, a leading provider of iris imaging technology, today announced it has been selected by the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to test its Iris on the Move® (IOM) -

    unknown title 2009

  • Sarnoff Corporation, a leading provider of iris imaging technology, today announced it has been selected by the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to test its Iris on the Move

    unknown title 2009

  • Sarnoff Corporation, a leading provider of iris imaging technology, today announced it has been selected by the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to test its Iris on the Move

    unknown title 2009

  • However, in a paper with some colleagues at NASA, we attempted it and discovered what we referred to as the Iris Effect wherein the upper level cirrus clouds associated with a cumulus tower contracted with increased temperature, providing a very strong negative climate feedback sufficient to drive the response to a doubling of CO2 well below 1C Lindzen, Chou and Hou, 200013.

    Hansen and Schmidt: Predicting the Past? « Climate Audit 2006

  • Then, as if he had waited for this moment, he turned to the assembled company and delivered an eloquent panegyric of the _Andromeda's_ crew and their _deusa deliciosa_ -- for that is what he called Iris -- a delightful goddess.

    The Stowaway Girl Louis Tracy 1895

  • Oddly, a friend of mine knew one of the fringe characters in 'Iris', and she had quite a lot to say about things which weren't quite right (my friend, not the fringe character).

    Iris and Grizzly Man: Two Films That Seem Completely Unconnected, But Which Become Melded As One In My Fevered Psyche Cazzab 2008

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