Adonis

[Gr. "Αδωνις (Adonis); Lat. Adonis the mythological personage described under A. 1. In Fr. Adonide; Sp. & Port. Adonis; Ital. fiore d'Adono = a plant (the Pheasant's Eye, B. 1): fr. Adonis, the person.] A. Of persons: L Cla ic Mythology: The 1. Lit. An exceedingly beautiful youth, killed by a wild boar. The godde Venus, by whom he was greatly beloved, soothed her grief for his lo by converting him into a flower, supposed to be the anemone. death and re-appearance in a beautiful form of Adonis were supposed by some to symbolise the death of vegetation in winter and its revival in spring. In this sense the word is sometimes shortened in poetry to Adon . ""Nay, then,' quoth Adon , 'you will fall again Into your idle, over-handled theme." Shakesp.: Venus and Adonis. 2. Fig .: A young man greatly beloved, or remarkable, like Adonis, for great beauty. "Rich, thou hadst many lovers-poor, hast none, So surely want extinguishes the flame, And she who call'd thee once her pretty one, And her Adonis , now inquires thy name."" B. Of things: Cowper: On Female Inconstancy. Bot. Pheasant's eye. A genus of plants so called because the red colour of the species made them look as if they had been stained by the blood of Adonis. It belongs to the order Ranunculaceæ, or Crowfoots. It has five sepals and five to ten petals without a nectary; stamens and styles many; fruit consisting of numerous awnle achenes grouped in a short spike or head. A species - the A. autumnal is , or Corn Pheasant's Eye-is found occasionally in corn-fields in Britain, but it has escaped from gardens, IMG:content-0184.jpg:[blocks in formation] very markedly composite leaves with linear segments. Plants of this genus are easily cultivated.