Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Greek Mythology A priestess of Apollo at Delphi.
- n. A prophetess.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The Pythia or especial priestess of Apollo at his temple at Delphi, who was supposed to be inspired to give his oracular answers; hence, any woman supposed to have a spirit of divination; a witch.
Wiktionary
- n. Alternative capitalization of Pythoness
- n. A female soothsayer
- n. A female python.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Gr. Antiq.) The priestess who gave oracular answers at Delphi in Greece.
- n. Any woman supposed to have a spirit of divination; a sort of witch.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a witch with powers of divination
- n. (Greek mythology) the priestess of Apollo at Delphi who transmitted the oracles
Etymologies
- python + -ess (Wiktionary)
- Middle English phitonesse, from Old French phitonise, from Late Latin pȳthonissa, from Greek Pūthōn, Python; see Python. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“She was known as the Kansas pythoness in those days before women's suffrage made such references to a woman's sex politically incorrect.”
“Each one was sharp enough to weaken a normal man, render him helpless and send him to his knees begging for mercy in the face of a powerful Wiccan pythoness like Mysti.”
“Like a pythoness possessed by the demon, she inspired awe rather than pleasure.”
“It is only necessary to have a spirit like the pythoness; and, to bring this spirit of pythonism into successful operation it is only necessary that one party should be a knave and the other a fool; and no one can deny that such rencontres very frequently occur.”
“The modern Chams find no difficulty worshipping the Hindu Trinity,the linga, the bull of Siva, a pythoness, Allah-- who is believed to have been an eleventh century Cham king-- plus Mohammed and a number of uncomprehended words taken from the Muslim invocations and regarded as the names of deities, each with its special function.”
“Alone like a pythoness on her tripod, like the oracle alone above the fissure into the unknown.”
“He had approached the family mansion in so blindly buoyant a spirit as to have set up his camera to photograph his first sight of it; and even the camera had taken on the semblance of the tripod of a tragic pythoness.”
“[Castro] We will have to go to Greece to see a pythoness, to hear what she has to say about it.”
“Mademoiselle Lenormand, and he resolved that Madame de Girardin, Mery and Theophile Gautier should drive with him to the abode of the pythoness at Auteuil.”
“Euangelidai, etc. These usually elected the staff of resident priests, the schools of prophets (at the oracle of Zeus Ammon, e.g., under an arch-prophet), and even, at times, the pythoness.”
Lists
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Seven
turnskin, therianthrope, mimic, mimical, mimetic, animagus, selkie, incantatory, cynanthrope, therianthropy, nagual, pooka and 200 more...
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