Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The figure of the sacred serpent, an emblem of sovereignty depicted on the headdress of ancient Egyptian rulers and deities.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The sacred serpent, either the head and neck, or sometimes the entire form, of a serpent, represented by the ancient Egyptians upon the head-dresses of divinities and royal personages, as an emblem of supreme power. It also occurs frequently on either side of a winged solar disk, emblematic of the supremacy of the sun, of good over evil, or of Horus over Set. The actual basis of the symbol is supposed to be the Egyptian asp or cobra, Naja haje. See also cut under
asp .
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Egypt. Archæol.) A serpent, or serpent's head and neck, represented on the front of the headdresses of divinities and sovereigns as an emblem of supreme power.
Etymologies
- From Latin uraeus, from Ancient Greek οὐραῖος (oúraĩos), from Egyptian (Wiktionary)
- New Latin ūraeus, from Late Greek ouraios, cobra, perhaps alteration (influenced by Greek ouraios, of the tail) of Egyptian y'rt. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Teta hath seen his body in the Semketet boat, he knoweth the uraeus which is in the M [= a] ntchet boat, and God hath called him in his name ... and hath taken him in to R [= a]. ”
“Her chariot is drawn by three cobras, a symbol of magical transformation and sovereignty; appropriately, the uraeus, a crown worn in ancient Egypt, takes its form from the cobra.”
“His colleagues did not care for his despondent company, which made him suffer more, which perpetuated their distance, and his disdain: his uraeus, the snake biting its own tail, the self-perpetuating, unbroken circle.”
“Most striking is a seated granite figure -- one of two female depictions from her innovative, monumental mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri in Thebes -- in a shapely sheath, with only headdress and uraeus (serpent emblem) revealing her royal identity.”
“Between and behind these sit lion-headed statues closely ranged, and on either side of the gateway looks down the solemn majesty of the great lion-headed Sekhet, with her uraeus crown, and the pleasant face of the Egyptian king whom envy has robbed of his name.”
“‘May you make these names complete and may they guide you along the path to victory,’ proclaimed the queen, placing the White Crown with its uraeus upon the head of her son.”
“This group, five statues and a glass intaglio from a ring, show her wearing a triple uraeus -- three rearing cobras, perhaps representing Upper and Lower Egypt and her Asian and Cypriot foreign possessions.”
“Heseret rode beside Naja, glittering with jewels and wearing the golden uraeus on her high-piled curls.”
“On top of them he wore the uraeus, the circlet of gold depicting Nekhbet, the vulture goddess, and Naja, the cobra.”
“Incongruously he wore the golden uraeus, the vulture and cobra crown, over his dense silver-shot curls.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘uraeus’.
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250 Spelling Words
A selected sampling of words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
orecchiette, rhabdomancy, guayabera, orthoepy, opisthenar, maguey, proem, ciabatta, cioppino, banns, concinnity, asthenia and 237 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Professional Scrabble Lexicon (TWL)
A myriad of game-changing words every Scrabble addict must have in his arsenal.
Keep in mind that these are all tried-and-true feasibly playable words selected for their handiness, i.e...paragon, pignora, ganef, suttee, origan, ohia, aioli, abasement, lehr, mho, tallow, harelike and 843 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (U,V)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
virgin's bower, umiak, underworld, undine, unearthly, unfurl, unicorn, universe, unquiet, undead, uraeus, urn and 58 more...
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It's a Snake
Snakes.
araramboya, opisthoglyphous, proteroglyphous, solenoglyphous, centipede-eater, boitatá, matatoro, huille, boine, boomslang, Calamaria, racer and 60 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for uraeus.
treeseed (n): a representation of the sacred asp (Naja haje) appearing in ancient Egyptian art and especially on the headdress of rulers and serving as a symbol of sovereignty
Typically shown along with a solar disk on the headdress of the half lioness, half-human goddess Sekhmet Jan 21, 2008