Gorgias, Leontinus

a celebrated orator of the school of Empedocles, native of Leontinum, in Sicily; lived 417 B. C. A golden statue was erected to his honor at Delphi, and Plato has given his name to one of his Dialogues. Gor'gon, n.; pl. GORGONS. (Myth.) One of the three celebrated sisters, daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. Their names were Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, all of whom were immortal except Medusa. According to the mythologists, their hair was entwined with serpents, their hands were bra , their body was covered with impenetrable scales, and their teeth were as long as the tusks of a wild boar. They were so frightful that they turned to stone all those on whom they fixed their eyes. Mythologists differ in their accounts of them. They were conquered by Perseus, who, it is said, was furnished by different deities with weapons which he afterwards returned to them. The head of Medusa remained in his hands; and after he had finished all his laborious expeditions, he gave it to Minerva, who placed it on her ægis, with which she turned into stone all such as fixed their eyes upon it. It is said, that, after the conquest of the G., Perseus took his flight in the air towards Ethiopia, and that the drops of blood which fell to the ground from Medusa's head were changed into serpents, which have ever since infested the sandy deserts of Libya. The horse Pegasus also arose from the blood of Medusa, as well as Chrysaor with his golden sword. Hesiod fixed the residence of the G. in the west, Æschylus in Scythia, and Ovid in Libya, near the lake Triton. Homer speaks but of one Gorgon. ( Fort .) The entrance of any work, or that part which is open to the rear between the inner extremities of its flanks or face. (See Fig. 745.) Thus the gorge of a ravelin is the space facing the main works behind it, between the extremities of its faces, which meet in a salient angle towards the front; and the gorge of a bastion is that side of the irregular pentagon which forms the outline of the work, and lies between the interior extremities of its flanks, where they join the curtains on either side. The lines formed by the prolongation of the curtains on either side of a bastion to a point in its capital within the interior of the work, are called its dem i-gorges. It is also the name of a con--Anything very ugly or horrid. cave moulding used in architecture, and the entrance to a narrow pa or defile between mountains. IMG:content-0411.png:[graphic] (Arch.) Same as CAVETTE, q. v. Gorge, v. a. To swallow with greedine . "The fish has gorged the hook."-Johnson. -To fill up to the throat; to glut; to satiate. "Being with his presence glutted, gorged , and full."-Shaks. -v. n. To feed greedily or ravenously. Gorged, a . Having a gorge or throat; as, the shrill gorged lark. ( Her .) A lion or other animal is said to be gorged when it has a crown by way of collar round its neck. Görgei, or GORGEY, ARTHUR, an Hungarian general, в. 1818. After completing his studies at the military school at Tuln, he was appointed to a commi ion in the Hungarian body-guard at Vienna, which service he abandoned to study chemistry at Prague. The news of the insurrection in Hungary (1848) called him back to military duties, and hastening to Buda-Pesth, he placed his sword at the disposal of the Hungarian ministry. The firmne of his conduct attracted the attention of Ko uth, and until he became his rival, G. appears to have been his favorite. After the battle of Schwechat, he a umed the chief command of the Hungarian army, and in that position showed great military talents. Differences, however, arose between himself and the civil authorities; twice he was superseded in his command, and on resuming it, was alternately victor and vanquished. On the resignation of the governor and council, Aug. 11, 1849, Ko uth made Gen. G. dictator in his place. Shortly after this, the Hungarian forces laid down their arms. For this G. has been branded as a traitor, though the state of affairs seemed desperate enough to warrant submi ion. The most suspicious part of the affair is the leniency with which he was treated by the victors. He went to Klagenfurt, was afterwards allowed to leave on parole, and pursued his favorite study of chemistry at Pesth. A narrative of his connection with the insurrection, My Life and acts in Hungary, appeared in 1851. 280 of his former comrades, in 1884, presented him with a declaration, exo no rating him from a charge of treachery made in 1849. Gorgeous, ( gör'jus ,) a. [0. Fr. gorgias , a ruff, or ornament for the throat or neck of females, - hence, gaudy, flaunting.] Showy; fine; splendid; glittering with gay colors; magnificent; as, "the gorgeous East." -Milton. Gorgeously, adv . With showy magnificence; splendidly; finely. Gorgeousne , n. Show of dre or ornament; splendor of raiment or dre .