Medusa - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

me·du·sa

Audio Help [muh-doo-suh, -zuh, -dyoo-] Pronunciation Key

–noun, plural -sas, -sae

Audio Help [-see, -zee] Pronunciation Key. Zoology.

a saucer-shaped or dome-shaped, free-swimming jellyfish or hydra.

[Origin: 1750–60; special use of Medusa, alluding to the Gorgon's snaky locks

]

—Related forms

me·du·soid

Audio Help [muh-doo-soid, -dyoo-] Pronunciation Key, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Medusa

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Me·du·sa

Audio Help [muh-doo-suh, -zuh, -dyoo-] Pronunciation Key

–noun, plural -sas. Classical Mythology.

the only mortal of the three Gorgons. She was killed by Perseus, and her head was mounted upon the aegis of Zeus and Athena.

[Origin: < L < Gk Médousa, special use of médousa, fem. of médōn ruling

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

me·du·sa Audio Help (mĭ-dōō'sə, -zə, -dyōō'-) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. me·du·sas or me·du·sae (-sē, -zē)
The tentacled, usually bell-shaped, free-swimming sexual stage in the life cycle of a coelenterate, such as a jellyfish.

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

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Me·dus·a Audio Help (mĭ-dōō'sə,-zə, -dyōō'-) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. Me·du·sas or Me·du·sae (-sē, -zē) 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.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
medusa

"jellyfish," 1758, as genus name, from the name of one of the three Gorgons with snakes for hair, whose glance turned to stone him who looked upon it (attested in Eng. from 1390). Her name is from Gk. Medousa, lit. "guardian," fem. prp. of the verb medein "to protect, rule over" (see Medea). The zoological name was chosen by Linnæus, suggested by the creature's long tentacles.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

medusa
noun
1.	(Greek mythology) a woman transformed into a Gorgon by Athena; she was slain by Perseus
2.	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

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

medusa Audio Help (mĭ-d

'sə) Pronunciation Key
Plural medusas or medusae (mĭ-d

'sē)
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® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
Medusa [(mi-dooh-suh, mi-dooh-zuh)]

The best known of the monster Gorgons of classical mythology; people who looked at her would turn to stone. A hero, Perseus, was able to kill Medusa, aiming his sword by looking at her reflection in a highly polished shield. (See illustration, next page.)

[Chapter:] Mythology and Folklore

U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Medusa, NY Zip code(s): 12120

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Medusa

Hy`dro*me*du"sa\, n.; pl. Hydromedus[ae]. [NL. See Hydra, and Medusa.] (Zo["o]l.) Any medusa or jellyfish which is produced by budding from a hydroid. They are called also Craspedota, and naked-eyed medus[ae].

Note: Such medus[ae] are the reproductive zooids or gonophores, either male or female, of the hydroid from which they arise, whether they become free or remain attached to the hydroid colony. They in turn produce the eggs from which the hydroids are developed. The name is also applied to other similar medus[ae] which are not known to bud from a hydroid colony, and even to some which are known to develop directly from the eggs, but which in structure agree essentially with those produced from hydroids. See Hydroidea, and Gymnoblastea.

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MEDUSA

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On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

medusa

medusa: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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