Odyssey
(ˈɒdɪsɪ)
Also 7 Odyssæa, -ysee, -isse, 8 -ysse.
[ad. L. Odyssēa, a. Gr. Ὀδύσσεια, f. Ὀδυσσεύς Ulysses, a king of Ithaca. Cf. F. Odyssée.]
1. One of the two great epic poems of ancient Greece, attributed to Homer, which describes the ten years' wanderings of Odysseus (Ulysses) on his way home to Ithaca after the fall of Troy.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 372 In his Odyssæa, where he discourseth of the aduentures, trauels, & fortunes of prince Vlysses. 1603 ― Plutarch's Mor. 203 The Odysee or Ilias of Homer. 1701 Swift Contests Nobles & Comm. Wks. 1755 II. i. 25 Several passages in the Odysses. 1818 Byron Juan i. xli, Their æneids, Iliads, and Odysseys. 1876 Gladstone Homeric Synchr. 169 In the fourth Odyssey he is described as the slayer of Antilochos... In the eleventh Odyssey, he is named for his personal beauty. |
2. fig. A long series of wanderings to and fro; a long adventurous journey.
| 1889 Daily News 10 Oct. 4/7 He is on this odyssey of rebellion now, though we do not know precisely among what people, or at what Court. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 10 Aug. 8/1 The odysseys of historical [music] scores might form the subject of an interesting volume. 1899 Edin. Rev. Oct. 326 Scraps of adventitious mineral that, after whole Odysseys of adventure, have come to rest within the shelter of a glass case. |
Hence Odyssean (ɒdɪˈsiːən) a., of, pertaining to, or having the characteristics of the Odyssey.
| a 1711 Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 289 Odyssean risks upon the Main. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 155 Even common sailors could not tell the story of their wanderings without rising to an almost Odyssean strain. 1892 A. M. Clerke Fam. Stud. Homer ii. 49 The poet does not appear to feel any need of bringing it into harmony with the Odyssean vision. |