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Thyrsus   Listen
noun
Thyrsus  n.  (pl. thyrsi)  
1.
A staff entwined with ivy, and surmounted by a pine cone, or by a bunch of vine or ivy leaves with grapes or berries. It is an attribute of Bacchus, and of the satyrs and others engaging in Bacchic rites. "A good to grow on graves As twist about a thyrsus." "In my hand I bear The thyrsus, tipped with fragrant cones of pine."
2.
(Bot.) A species of inflorescence; a dense panicle, as in the lilac and horse-chestnut.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Thyrsus" Quotes from Famous Books



... hair waving loosely in the wind. She had in her hand a symbol, or badge, called the thyrsus, which was an ornamented staff, or pole, surmounted with a carved representation of a bunch of grapes, and with other ornaments and emblems. The thyrsus was always used in the rites and festivities celebrated in honor of Bacchus. Silius himself, dressed like the rest in a fantastic and theatrical costume, danced by the side of Messalina, in the center of a ring of dancing girls which ...
— Nero - Makers of History Series • Jacob Abbott
... diminutive golden horns attached to the forehead, represent not fecundity merely, nor merely the crisp tossing of the waves of streams, but horns of offence. And our fingers must beware of the thyrsus, tossed about so wantonly by himself and his chorus. The pine-cone at its top does but cover a spear-point; and the thing is a weapon—the sharp spear of the hunter Zagreus—though hidden now by the fresh leaves, and that button of pine-cone ...
— Greek Studies: A Series of Essays • Walter Horatio Pater
... his vocabulary is not prosaic; it is poetical to a degree exceeding that of all other Latin writers. It is to be regretted that he did not oftener allow himself to be carried away by the stroke of the thyrsus, which impelled him to strive for the ...
— A History of Roman Literature - From the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus Aurelius • Charles Thomas Cruttwell
... God's victories than before All his panthers, and the brawls Of his piping Bacchanals; These, as stale, we disallow, Or judge of thee meant: only thou His true Indian Conquest art; And, for Ivy round his dart, The reformed God now weaves A finer Thyrsus of ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Vol. 5 • Edited by E. V. Lucas
... dinner, sir, after dinner, I will meet you on this question. I shall then be armed for the strife. You may fight like Hercules against Achelous, but I shall flourish the Bacchic thyrsus, which changed rivers into wine: as ...
— Crotchet Castle • Thomas Love Peacock


Words linked to "Thyrsus" :   flower cluster


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