hero

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. In mythology and legend, a man, often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits, and favored by the gods.
2. n. A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life: soldiers and nurses who were heroes in an unpopular war.
3. n. A person noted for special achievement in a particular field: the heroes of medicine. See Synonyms at celebrity.
4. n. The principal male character in a novel, poem, or dramatic presentation.
5. n. Chiefly New York City See submarine. See Regional Note at submarine.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In classical mythology, a superior being, distinguished from ordinary men chiefly by greater physical strength, courage, and ability, at the time of the Homeric poems still regarded as mortal, but from the time of Hesiod (about the eighth century b. c.) regarded as intermediate in nature between gods and men (a demigod), and immortal. Except in the case of Hercules, the Greek cult of heroes was essentially local, each country, region, or even town holding its own in especial honor. Thus Theseus was the national hero of Attica, Ajax was especially honored in Salamis, Amphiaraus at Orchomenus; while Lycurgus became a hero in Sparta, and Hesiod himself in Bœotia. The ancient veneration of heroes was to some extent parallel with that now paid to the saints of Christianity.
2. n. A man of distinguished valor, intrepidity, or enterprise in danger; a prominent or central personage in any remarkable action or event; one who exhibits extraordinary courage, firmness, fortitude, or intellectual greatness in any course of action.
3. n. The principal male personage in a poem, play, or story, or the person who has the chief place and share in the transactions related, as Achilles in the Iliad, Odysseus (Ulysses) in the Odyssey, Æneas in the Æneid.
4. n. A person regarded as heroic; one invested by opinion with heroic qualities.

Wiktionary

1. n. this sense?) A real or mythical person of great bravery who carries out extraordinary deeds.
2. n. A role model.
3. n. The main protagonist in a work of fiction.
4. n. A large sandwich made from meats and cheeses; a hero sandwich.
5. n. The product chosen from several candidates to be photographed.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Myth.) An illustrious man, supposed to be exalted, after death, to a place among the gods; a demigod, as Hercules.
2. n. A man of distinguished valor or enterprise in danger, or fortitude in suffering; a prominent or central personage in any remarkable action or event; hence, a great or illustrious person.
3. n. The principal personage in a poem, story, and the like, or the person who has the principal share in the transactions related; as Achilles in the Iliad, Ulysses in the Odyssey, and Æneas in the Æneid.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. (Greek mythology) priestess of Aphrodite who killed herself when her lover Leander drowned while trying to swim the Hellespont to see her
2. n. a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength
3. n. someone who fights for a cause
4. n. Greek mathematician and inventor who devised a way to determine the area of a triangle and who described various mechanical devices (first century)
5. n. a large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States
6. n. (classical mythology) a being of great strength and courage celebrated for bold exploits; often the offspring of a mortal and a god
7. n. the principal character in a play or movie or novel or poem