Me·dus·a

(mĭ-do͞o′sə, -zə, -dyo͞o′-)

n. Greek Mythology

The Gorgon who was killed by Perseus.

[Middle English Meduse, from Latin Medūsa, from Greek Medousa, from feminine present participle of medein, to protect, rule over; see med- in Indo-European roots.]

me·du·sa

(mĭ-do͞o′sə, -zə, -dyo͞o′-)

n. pl. me·du·sas or me·du·sae (-sē, -zē)

A body form of certain cnidarians such as jellyfish, consisting of a dome-shaped structure with a mouth underneath surrounded by tentacles, and in most species constituting the free-swimming sexual stage of the organism.

[Latin Medūsa, Medusa (from the Medusa's snaky locks); see Medusa.]

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.

Medusa

(mɪˈdjuːzə)

(Classical Myth & Legend) Greek myth a mortal woman who was transformed by Athena into one of the three Gorgons. Her appearance was so hideous that those who looked directly at her were turned to stone. Perseus eventually slew her. See also Pegasus¹

Meˈdusan, Meˈdusal adj

medusa

(mɪˈdjuːzə)

n, pl -sas or -sae (-ziː)

1. (Animals) another name for jellyfish¹, jellyfish²

2. (Zoology) Also called: medusoid or medusan one of the two forms in which a coelenterate exists. It has a jelly-like umbrella-shaped body, is free swimming, and produces gametes. Compare polyp

[C18: from the likeness of its tentacles to the snaky locks of Medusa]

meˈdusan, meˈdusal adj

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

me•du•sa

(məˈdu sə, -zə, -ˈdyu-)

n., pl. -sas, -sae (-sē, -zē).

the free-swimming body form in the life cycle of a jellyfish or other coelenterate, usu. dome-shaped with tentacles.

[1750–60; after Medusa, alluding to the Gorgon's snaky locks]

me•du′soid, adj.

Me•du•sa

(məˈdu sə, -zə, -ˈdyu-)

n.

the only mortal of the three Gorgons: decapitated by Perseus.

[< Latin < Greek Médousa]

me·du·sa

(mĭ-do͞o′sə)

A cnidarian in its free-swimming stage. Medusas are bell-shaped, with tentacles hanging down around a central mouth. Jellyfish are medusas, while corals and sea anemones lack a medusa stage and exist only as polyps. Compare polyp.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	Medusa - (Greek mythology) a woman transformed into a Gorgon by Athena; she was slain by Perseus Greek mythology - the mythology of the ancient Greeks Gorgon - (Greek mythology) any of three winged sister monsters and the mortal Medusa who had live snakes for hair; a glance at Medusa turned the beholder to stone
	2.	medusa - one of two forms that coelenterates take: it is the free-swimming sexual phase in the life cycle of a coelenterate; in this phase it has a gelatinous umbrella-shaped body and tentacles medusan, medusoid Cnidaria, Coelenterata, phylum Cnidaria, phylum Coelenterata - hydras; polyps; jellyfishes; sea anemones; corals cnidarian, coelenterate - radially symmetrical animals having saclike bodies with only one opening and tentacles with stinging structures; they occur in polyp and medusa forms

Translations

Μέδουσα

Medusa

Meduusa

Méduse

Medusza

Medūza

Medusa

Медуза

Medusa

[mɪˈdjuːzə] n → Medusa

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

WHILE bathing, Antinous was seen by Minerva, who was so enamoured of his beauty that, all armed as she happened to be, she descended from Olympus to woo him; but, unluckily displaying her shield, with the head of Medusa on it, she had the unhappiness to see the beautiful mortal turn to stone from catching a glimpse of it.

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Seeing this, Maggie lingered at a distance looking like a small Medusa with her snakes cropped.

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gunboat "Myrtle," and the story of their terrible privations has become quite as well known as the far more horrible "Medusa" case.

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Forgive me, noble lady, and retire to your apartment, and do not, by any further declaration of your passion, compel me to show myself more ungrateful; and if, of the love you bear me, you should find that there is anything else in my power wherein I can gratify you, provided it be not love itself, demand it of me; for I swear to you by that sweet absent enemy of mine to grant it this instant, though it be that you require of me a lock of Medusa's hair, which was all snakes, or even the very beams of the sun shut up in a vial."

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Rawdon Crawley meanwhile hurried on from Great Gaunt Street, and knocking at the great bronze Medusa's head which stands on the portal of Gaunt House, brought out the purple Silenus in a red and silver waistcoat who acts as porter of that palace.

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The beautiful color became livid, the eyes seemed to throw out sparks of hell fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the folds of flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes, and the lovely, blood-stained mouth grew to an open square, as in the passion masks of the Greeks and Japanese.

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Here, too, the bride's aunt and next relation; a widowed female of a Medusa sort, in a stoney cap, glaring petrifaction at her fellow- creatures.

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"What are you screaming for, you little fool?" she said advancing alone close to the girl who was affected exactly as if she had seen Medusa's head with serpentine locks set mysteriously on the shoulders of that familiar person, in that brown dress, under that hat she knew so well.

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It is only the headless body of a man, clad in a coat of mail, with a Medusa head upon the breast-plate, but we feel persuaded that such dignity and such majesty were never thrown into a form of stone before.

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"I thought Medusa had looked at you, and that you were turning to stone.

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One might have supposed the Bastille appeared before you, and that the gigantic Medusa had converted you into stone.

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In one of the aristocratic mansions built by Puget in the Rue du Grand Cours opposite the Medusa fountain, a second marriage feast was being celebrated, almost at the same hour with the nuptial repast given by Dantes.

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