Minotaur Gr. Myth.
(ˈmɪnətɔː(r))
[ad. Gr. Μινώταυρ-ος (L. Minōtaur-us, OF. Minotaur, F. Minotaure), f. Μίνως Minos + ταῦρος bull.]
a. A fabulous monster, the son of Pasiphaë, wife of Minos king of Crete, and a bull, represented as having the body of a man and the head of a bull. He was confined in the Cretan labyrinth and fed with human flesh. He was slain by Theseus, who thus freed Athens from her annual tribute of seven youths and seven maidens to be devoured by the monster. Hence used allusively.
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2104 (Ariadne) The mynatour [v.rr. Mynotawr(e, -taure, Mynataur]. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 304 Minotaure. c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. v. (Parl. Beasts) xiv, The minotaur, ane monster meruelous. 1500–20 Dunbar Fenȝeit Freir 66 The Menatair [v.r. Mynataur] marvelus. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iii. 189 There Minotaurs and vgly Treasons lurke. 1592 Daniel Compl. Rosamond lxix, Heere I inclos'd from all the world a sunder, The Minotaure of shame kept for disgrace. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. iii. xxii, But don't give yourself for a meal to a minotaur like Bult. 1900 United Service Mag. Jan. 427 All those who were the hope and future strength of the race were devoured by the Imperial Minotaur [sc. Napoleon] in pursuit of his dream of universal domination. 1939 Spender & Rees tr. Büchner's Danton's Death i. iv. 42 The people is a Minotaur that must be fed with corpses every week if it is not to eat the Committee alive. 1945 Auden Sea & Mirror ii. 51 Home to your promiscuous pastures where the minotaur of authority is just a roly-poly ruminant and nothing is at stake. 1950 T. S. Eliot Cocktail Party iii. 163 We talk of darkness, labyrinths, Minotaur terrors. 1964 A. W. Gouldner in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 196 The lair of this minotaur [sc. Max Weber]..is still regarded by many sociologists as a holy place. |
b. A representation of this, esp. Her.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 122 And by his Baner born is his penoun Of gold ful riche, in which ther was ybete The Mynotaur which þat he slough in Crete. 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 49 R. beareth azure, a Minotaure d' Argente. 1776 Burney Hist. Mus. (1789) I. ii. iii. 337 In a medal inscribed Caleno the Minotaur is seen. |