co·los·sus

(kə-lŏs′əs)

n. pl. co·los·si (-lŏs′ī′) or co·los·sus·es

1. A huge statue.

2. Something likened to a huge statue, as in size or importance: a colossus of bureaucracy.

[Latin, from Greek kolossos.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

colossus

(kəˈlɒsəs)

n, pl -si (-saɪ) or -suses

something very large, esp a statue

[C14: from Latin, from Greek kolossos]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

co•los•sus

(kəˈlɒs əs)

n., pl. -los•si (-ˈlɒs aɪ)
-los•sus•es.

1. any statue of gigantic size.

2. anything colossal, gigantic, or very powerful.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek kolossós statue, image, presumably < a pre-Hellenic Mediterranean language]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	colossus - someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful behemoth, goliath, monster, giant unusual person, anomaly - a person who is unusual
	2.	colossus - a person of exceptional importance and reputation titan, behemoth, giant, heavyweight important person, influential person, personage - a person whose actions and opinions strongly influence the course of events

Translations

kolos

colosse

kolosszus

colosso orco statua gigantesca

колосс гигант

colossus

[kəˈlɒsəs] N (colossi or colossuses (pl)) → coloso m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

colossus

n pl <colossi or -es> (= statue) → Koloss m; (= person also) → Riese m; this colossus of the world of music → dieser Gigant or Titan der Musik

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

colossus

[kəˈlɒsəs] n → colosso

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Take the Colossus of Rhodes, for instance, that's worth something.

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There you stand, a hundred feet above the silent decks, striding along the deep, as if the masts were gigantic stilts, while beneath you and between your legs, as it were, swim the hugest monsters of the sea, even as ships once sailed between the boots of the famous Colossus at old Rhodes.

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He desired I would stand like a Colossus, with my legs as far asunder as I conveniently could.

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Then the colossus put forth his strength, and, blundering again, at last blundered into the semblance of victory.

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After which his eyes darkened and closed, his face grew ashy pale, the hands whitened, and the colossus sank quite down, breathing his last sigh.

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Porthos rested his chin on his hands, placed his elbows on the table and looked at D'Artagnan with an expression of confidence which imparted to that colossus an admirable appearance of good-fellowship.

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At nine o'clock in the morning we went and stood before this marble colossus. The central one of its five great doors is bordered with a bas-relief of birds and fruits and beasts and insects, which have been so ingeniously carved out of the marble that they seem like living creatures--and the figures are so numerous and the design so complex that one might study it a week without exhausting its interest.

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And if we enter the interior of the edifice, who has overthrown that colossus of Saint Christopher, proverbial for magnitude among statues, as the grand hall of the Palais de Justice was among halls, as the spire of Strasbourg among spires?

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Wouldst thou make a Colossus of me, that thou askest me such questions?

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It had come upon her suddenly that she was very tired and very small and very weak alongside this colossus of a man.

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It is many years now since this colossus of crime suddenly ceased keeping the world in a turmoil; and when he ceased, as they said after the death of Roland, there was a great quiet upon the earth.

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I was very far then from expecting the change you have just informed me of; namely, that four years afterwards, this colossus of power would be overthrown.

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