Zeus

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Greek Mythology The principal god of the Greek pantheon, ruler of the heavens, and father of other gods and mortal heroes.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In Gr. Myth., the chief and master of the gods, the supreme deity, omnipresent and all-powerful, generally looked upon as the son of Kronos and Rhea, and held to have dethroned and succeeded his father In a narrower sense, he was the god of the heavens, and controlled all celestial phenomena, as rains, snows, and tempests, heat and cold, and the lightning. His consort was Hera. Zeus was worshiped universally; but the most renowned of his sanctuaries were those of Olympia in Elis and Do-dona in Epirus. In art Zeus was represented as a majestic and powerful figure, with full beard and flowing hair, in early works sometimes fully draped, but in later art, in general, only lightly draped in the himation. The type fixed by Phidias in the second half of the fifth century b. c., in his great chryselephantine statue for the temple at Olympia, influenced all artists who came after him. The usual attributes of the god are a long staff or scepter, the thunderbolt, the eagle, and sometimes a figure of Victory borne on one hand. The head is generally encircled by a fillet or a wreath; in later sculptures the hair rises from the brow in luxuriant locks like a crown, and falls in masses on either side of the face. Compare Jupiter. See cut on preceding page, and cut under thunderbolt.
2. n. [NL. (Linnæus, 1758).] In ichthyology, a genus of acanthopterygian fishes, typical of the family Zenidæ. It includes several fishes of remarkable appearance, as the John-dory, Z. faber, well known in classic times. See cut under dory, 1.

Wiktionary

1. n. Supreme ruler of all Greek gods, husband to Hera.
2. n. Supreme ruler of all Greek gods, husband to Hera.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The chief deity of the Greeks, and ruler of the upper world (cf. Hades). He was identified with Jupiter.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. type genus of the family Zeidae
2. n. (Greek mythology) the supreme god of ancient Greek mythology; son of Rhea and Cronus whom he dethroned; husband and brother of Hera; brother of Poseidon and Hades; father of many gods; counterpart of Roman Jupiter