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augean

 - 3 dictionary results

Au⋅ge⋅an

  [aw-jee-uhn]
Use augean in a Sentence
–adjective
1. resembling the Augean stables in filthiness or degradation.
2. difficult and unpleasant: an Augean chore.
Origin:
1590–1600; < L Augē(us) of Augeas (Gk Augeí(ās) + -us adj. suffix) + -an
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Au·ge·an   (ô-jē'ən)   
adj.  

  1. Exceedingly filthy from long neglect.

  2. Requiring heroic efforts of cleaning or correction: the Augean task of reforming the bureaucracy.


[After Augeas, legendary Greek king who did not clean his stable for thirty years.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

Augean 
"filthy," 1599, in ref. to Augean stable, the cleansing of which was one of the labors of Herakles, from Gk. Augeias, like the stable of Augeas, king of Elis, which contained 3,000 oxen and had been uncleaned for 30 years. Herakles purified it in one day by turning the river Alpheus through it.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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