Gorgon, n. (and a.)
(ˈgɔːgən)
Also 4–7 gorgone.
[ad. L. Gorgon-em, Gorgō, a. Gr. Γοργώ (pl. Γοργόνες), f. γοργός terrible.]
1. Gr. Myth. One of three mythical female personages, with snakes for hair, whose look turned the beholder into stone. The one of most note, and the only one mortal, Medusa, was slain by Perseus, and her head fixed on Athene's shield.
| [1398 Trevisa Barth. de P.R. xv. lxx. (1495) 515 Wymmen that were callyd Gorgones Feminine. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 148 The Islands called Gorgates, where sometimes the Gorgones kept their habitation.] c 1614 Sir W. Mure Dido & æneas ii. 528 Whil gastly Gorgones threatne death. 1636 Massinger Bashf. Lover i. ii, I have seen More than a wolf, a Gorgon! 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 628 Gorgons and Hydra's, and Chimera's dire. 1700 Congreve Way of World v. ii, She is as terrible to me as a gorgon. 1815 Scott Guy M. iii, Her dark elf-locks shot out like the snakes of a gorgon. 1884 Ruskin Pleas. Eng. (1885) 156 In Greek art, remember to keep yourselves clear about the difference between the Lion and the Gorgon. |
† b. = Demogorgon.
Obs.| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 37 Great Gorgon, prince of darknes and dead night. |
c. Short for
Gorgon's head.
| 1796 Burke Regic. Peace i. Wks. VIII. 163 As if the dire goddess..with..her gorgon at her breast, was a coquette to be trifled with. |
† d. A petrifying influence.
Obs.| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. i. 54 Chrystall..its immediate determination and efficiency..are wrought by the hand of its concretive spirit, the seeds of petrification and Gorgon within it selfe. |
† 2. An African quadruped; ? the gnu.
Obs.—1| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 206 Among the manifold and divers sorts of Beasts which are bred in Africk, it is thought that the Gorgon is brought forth in that Countrey. |
3. A very terrible or very ugly person;
esp., a repulsive woman.
| a 1529 Skelton Sp. Parrot 503 Was nevyr suche a ffylty gorgon, nor suche an epycure Syn Dewcalyons flodde. 1632 Marmion Holland's Leaguer iv. iv, No, my dear Gorgons, I will not have my fame wander without The precincts of your castle. 1670 Dryden Conq. Granada ii. ii, I'll shrowd this Gorgon from all humane view. 1831 Disraeli Yng. Duke i. xi, That gorgon, Lady de Courcy, captured me. 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. II. 111 A pretty girl will hardly be a gorgon as a step-mother. |
4. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple
attrib. passing into
adj. with sense ‘petrifying’, ‘terrible’.
| 1575 R. B. Appius & Virg. C j a, O gorgon Judge, what lawles life hast thou most wicked led! 1633 Massinger Guardian iii. vi, Your Gorgon looks Turn me to stone. 1663 Butler Hud. i. ii. 783 But Pallas..'twixt the spring and hammer thrust Her gorgon shield. 1690 Dryden Don Sebastian iii. i, Why didst thou not..try the virtue of that Gorgon face, To stare me into statue? 1712 Congreve Ovid's Art Love iii. Wks. 1730 III. 316 It swells the lips and blackens all the Veins, While in the Eye a Gorgon Horror reigns. a 1777 Potter æschylus, Prom. Chain'd 25 From his eyes the gorgon-glare Of balefull lightnings flash'd. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. lv, Scarce would you deem that Saragoza's tower Beheld her smile in Danger's Gorgon face. 1827 Miss Sedgwick H. Leslie (1872) II. 251 Feeling as if she had been paralyzed by some gorgon influence. |
b. objective and instrumental, as
gorgon-headed,
Gorgon-like,
Gorgon-mounted adjs.| 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. i. 291 Quivers, helms, and spears, And *gorgon-headed targes. |
| 1589 Nashe Anat. Absurd. 12 See how farre they swerue from theyr purpose, who seeke to garnish such *Gorgonlike shapes. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxiii, As if they had a Gorgon-like mind to stare her youth and beauty into stone. |
| 1836–48 B. D. Walsh Aristoph. Acharnians iv. vii, Fetch out my *Gorgon⁓mounted rounded shield. |
| 1626 Sandys Ovid's Met. iv. Argt., *Gorgon-toucht Sea-weeds To Corall change. |
c. Comb. with
gen. gorgon's:
gorgon's head, (
a) the head of Medusa, or a representation of it; (
b) ‘a kind of basket-fish; a many-rayed ophiurian, as of the genus
Astrophyton’ (
Cent. Dict.).
| 1605 Play Stucley in Simpson Sch. Shaks. (1878) I. 242 His eye is as the Gorgons head to me, And doth transform my senses into stone. 1642 Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 73 For they seeme like Bug-beares, or Gorgons heads, to the vulgar. 1690 Dryden Amphit. v. Wks. 1884 VIII. 99 This is a sight, that, like the gorgon's head, Runs through my limbs, and stiffens me to stone. 1870 Bryant Iliad I. xi. 332 Where glared A Gorgon's-head with angry eyes. |