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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Greek Mythology The Gorgon who was killed by Perseus.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. In Gr. mythology, one of the three Gorgons, the only one of them who was mortal. She was slain by Perseus, with the aid of Athena; and her serpent-entwined head was so awful that its sight turned all beholders to stone. It was afterward borne by Athena on her ægis or on her shield. The later artists beautified the grimacing head of Medusa, retaining only the writhing serpents of the legend. See Gorgon and ægis.
  2. n. Pl. medusæ (-sē). In zoology: [lowercase] A jelly-fish, sea-jelly, or sea-nettle; an acaleph, in a strict sense; a discophoran or discophorous hydrozoan; any member of the family Medusidæ or order or subclass Discophora: a term very loosely used, and now chiefly as an English word. See medusoid, n.
  3. n. [capitalized] [NL.] An old genus of jelly-fishes, used with great and varying latitude, more or less nearly equivalent to the order Discophora or family Medusidæ, now greatly restricted or entirely discarded. In the latter case Aurelia is used instead. See cut under acaleph. [In this sense there is no plural.]
  4. n. [lowercase] Some hydrozoan resembling or supposed to be one of the foregoing; a medusoid: as, the naked-eyed medusæ of Forbes, which are the reproductive zoöids or gonophores of gymnoblastic hydroids.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Greek mythology : The only mortal of the three gorgon sisters. She is killed by Perseus.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Class. Myth.) The Gorgon; or one of the Gorgons whose hair was changed into serpents, after which all who looked upon her were turned into stone.
  2. n. (Zoöl.) Any free swimming acaleph; a jellyfish.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. (Greek mythology) a woman transformed into a Gorgon by Athena; she was slain by Perseus
  2. n. one of two forms that coelenterates take: it is the free-swimming sexual phase in the life cycle of a coelenterate; in this phase it has a gelatinous umbrella-shaped body and tentacles

Etymologies

  1. From Ancient Greek Μέδουσα (Medousa). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English Meduse, from Latin Medūsa, from Greek Medousa, from feminine present participle of medein, to protect, rule over. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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synonyms (1)

Words with the same meaning

  1. jellyfish

hypernyms (3)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. Gorgon
  1. coelenterate
  1. cnidarian

rhymes (8)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Coosa
  1. Musa
  1. Ragusa
  1. Siracusa
  1. Susa
  1. Tuscaloosa
  1. roosa
  1. tusa

reverse dictionary (54)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. medusa's-head
  2. jellyfish
  3. Gorgon
  4. medusa-bud
  5. medusoid
  6. semaeostomata
  7. meconidium
  8. hydranth
  9. hydromedusa
  10. Portuguese man-of-war
  1. quarl
  2. ephyrula
  3. locomote
  4. scyphula
  5. blubber
  6. medusa-bell
  7. medusiform
  8. medusite
  9. snake-locked
  10. aegis
  1. craspedototal
  2. free-living
  3. planoblast
  4. Euryale
  5. Perseus
  6. sea wasp
  7. nooooooowwww
  8. Algol
  9. acalephoid
  10. Pegasus
  1. Aegina
  2. cnidarian
  3. coelenterate
  4. medusa bud
  5. medusian
  6. nectocalyx
  7. sea nettle
  8. polypite
  9. sea jelly
  10. aurelia
  1. basket fish
  2. calyx
  3. codonostoma
  4. fallen-star
  5. float
  6. gorgoneion
  7. harpe
  8. hydra
  9. manubrium
  10. medusidæ
  1. net-fish
  2. person
  3. proliferation
  4. siphonanthæ

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  • darbie (n) A misunderstood woman with curly hair. Apr 21, 2012

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‘Medusa’ has been looked up 1613 times, loved by 1 person, added to 5 lists, commented on 1 time, and is not a valid Scrabble word.