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Webster 1913 Edition


Phaethon

Pha′ë-thon

(fā′ē̍-thŏn)
,
p
rop.
Noun.
[L., Phaëthon (in sense 1), fr. Gr.
Φαέθων
, fr.
φαέθειν
,
φάειν
, to shine. See
Phantom
.]
1.
(Class. Myth.)
The son of Helios (Phœbus), that is, the son of light, or of the sun. He is fabled to have obtained permission to drive the chariot of the sun, in doing which his want of skill would have set the world on fire, had he not been struck with a thunderbolt by Jupiter, and hurled headlong into the river Po.
2.
(Zool.)
A genus of oceanic birds including the tropic birds.

Definition 2024


Phaëthon

Phaëthon

See also: phaeton and Phaethon

English

Alternative forms

Proper noun

Phaëthon

  1. (Greek mythology) the son of the sun god Helios who was killed by Zeus while trying to drive his father's chariot across the sky

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