Hermes

[ hur-meez ]

noun
  1. the ancient Greek herald and messenger of the gods and the god of roads, commerce, invention, cunning, and theft.: Compare Mercury (def. 3).

  2. Astronomy. a small asteroid that in 1937 approached within 485,000 miles (780,000 km) of the earth, the closest approach of an asteroid ever observed.

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British Dictionary definitions for Hermes (1 of 2)

Hermes1

/ (ˈhɜːmiːz) /


noun
  1. Greek myth the messenger and herald of the gods; the divinity of commerce, cunning, theft, travellers, and rascals. He was represented as wearing winged sandals: Roman counterpart: Mercury

British Dictionary definitions for Hermes (2 of 2)

Hermes2

/ (ˈhɜːmiːz) /


noun
  1. a small asteroid some 800 m in diameter that passed within 670 000 kilometres of the earth in 1937, and is now lost

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Hermes

Hermes

The messenger god of classical mythology. He traveled with great swiftness, aided by the wings he wore on his sandals and his cap. Hermes was a son of Zeus and the father of Pan.

Notes for Hermes

The caduceus, the wand of Hermes, is the traditional symbol of physicians. It has wings at the top and serpents twined about the staff.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.