Medusa's head
Also, when used attrib., Medusa head.
1. Astr. A cluster of stars including the bright star Algol, in the constellation Perseus.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Algol, or Medusa's Head. 1819 J. Wilson Dict. Astrol. |
2. a. An ophiuran echinoderm of either of the genera Astrophyton and Euryale; a basket-fish or sea-basket. b. An extant crinoid, Pentacrinus caput-medusæ.
| 1784 Cook's Voy. (1790) IV. 1292 Upon the beach were found many pretty Medusa's-heads. 1848 Maunder Treas. Nat. Hist. 414 Medusa's Head, a name sometimes applied to those species of Star-fishes which have the rays very much branched. Ibid. 225 [Euryale] sometimes known by the name of Medusa's heads. 1863 Wood Nat. Hist. III. 738 Medusa's Head—Pentacrinus Caput Medusæ. |
3. a. A kind of spurge, Euphorbia Caput-Medusæ. b. A species of orchid, Cirrhopetalum Medusæ. c. A species of agaric, Hydnum Caput-Medusæ.
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 319 Medusa's Head, Euphorbia. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 181 The bulbous agaric, the Medusa's head [etc.]. 1866 Treas. Bot. 728/1 Medusa's Head. Euphorbia Caput Medusæ; also Cirrhopetalum Medusæ. 1871 Cooke Handbk. Fungi 297 Hydnum caput-medusæ Bull. Medusa-head Hydnum. |