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  1. ephebe love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A youth between 18 and 20 years of age in ancient Greece.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. In Greek antiquity, particularly at Athens, a young man, the son of a citizen, between the ages of 18 and 20. At Athens, upon attaining the age of 18 each youth was subjected to an examination as to his physical development and his legal claims to citizenship, and received his first arms. During the next two years his education, both mental and physical, was taken in charge by the state, and conducted under the most rigid discipline, in conformity with a fixed course designed to prepare him to understand and to perform the duties of citizenship. Upon being admitted to take the sacred oath he received some of the citizen's privileges, and he became a full citizen after completing with honor his two years as an ephebe. Hence, in works on Greek art, etc., the name is applied to any youth, particularly if bearing arms, or otherwise shown to be of free estate. Also ephebos.
  2. n. A genus of lichens having the thallus small and branched and composed chiefly of the algal element. The apothecia are small and round. The species are few and occur on wet rocks and earth.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A young man, especially an 18-20 year old in ancient Greece undergoing military training.

Etymologies

  1. Via Latin, from Greek εφηβος (επι- + ήβη ‘early manhood’). (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin ephēbus, from Greek ephēbos : ep-, epi-, epi- + hēbē, early manhood. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “The violence which existed as a latent background in the story of the ephebe and of the bear now moves into full sight.”

    Thinking Singularity with Immanuel Kant and Paul de Man: Aesthetics, Epistemology, History and Politics

  • “Matt Gubler, the bright-eyed ephebe in Wes Anderson's upcoming film, was performing magic tricks.”

    Terry Richardson's Dark Room

  • “Let us not hesitate to admit that my eminent friend omitted to give us the name of this ephebe in the course of his demonstrations.”

    The Captive

  • “Platonic ephebe and a Byronic 'Prisoner of Chillon', each blinded by the light of truth or of freedom.”

    A Tour of the Sceptic

  • “He was Carl Schirmer, the avatar of ennui, the eternal ephebe, always more eager for ambience than destiny.”

    In Other Worlds

  • “His glance touched their faces lightly as he smiled, a blond ephebe.”

    Ulysses

  • “Created about 20-10 B.C., the Roman bronze figure of an ephebe (youth) was excavated in 1925 in a well-appointed residence, now called the House of the Ephebe, off Pompeii's Via dell'Abbondanza.”

    Art Knowledge News

  • “He moved to Athens when he was 18 to fulfill his required military service as an ephebe, but left again shortly thereafter when his parents wer expelled from Samos, along with the other Athenians, when Athens lost the island to Colophon for a time and continued to study philosophy and began to attract disciples.”

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en]

  • “Each passage when complete makes sense of a sort.1 Hamish The lad on babycHAM IS Half tight4 maniple Give hiM A NIP LEst he faint9 pea-souper I wouldn't give anyone of this tyPE A SOU PERsonally10 salad Sadie waS A LADy11 I wish I expect kIWIS Hate, being grounded12 Rimington This will raise pump-pRIMING TO New levels13 esparto Stags had a feast and the roES PARTOok15 ephebe Watch out for the *s/black sheEP: HE BEat all criminal records17 hordes Go to beacH OR DESert for *b/sand19 chimera I don't want this on my patCH; I'M ERAsing it22 refectory Paris pREFECT OR York, sheriff?”

    The Guardian: Annotated solutions for Genius 96

  • “Even as Oberon’s right hand man (and one can’t help thinking of the Prospero/Ariel relationship here, wondering if there’s a sense of the ephebe-as-male-muse to the queer-writer-as-mage,) he’s empowered in his lawless mischief.”

    Archive 2009-07-01

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reverse dictionary (3)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. ephebus
  1. ephebaceæ
  1. ephebic

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  • mollusque I felt lacquered from head to foot, like that naked ephebe, the bright clou of a pagan procession, who died of dermal asphyxia in his coat of golden varnish.
    --Vladimir Nabokov, 1974, Look at the Harlequins! p. 206 Jun 13, 2009

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‘ephebe’ has been looked up 2649 times, loved by 2 people, added to 20 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 13.