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An Iris by Any Other Name...

Iris
n. Greek Mythology

"The goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the gods."

—The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Notable Quotes

"...Iris appears to mortals (Priam, Helen) disguised as a human; ...what she offers is basically information and practical advice (Il [i.e., Homer's Illiad] 2.786-807;... 3.125-40)."

—Gantz, Timothy. Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1993, p. 17. (Olin Ref BL 782 .G21)

"the plant was named after the goddess Iris ('rainbow'), messenger of the gods; she puts to sleep all gods guilty of perjury"

—De Vries, Ad. Dictonary of Symbols and Imagery. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing, 1974, p. 250. (Olin Ref BF 1623 .S9 V98)

"For wheresoe'er thou art in this world's globe, I'll have an Iris that shall find thee out . . . . . 2 Hen. VI. iii 2 407"

—Bartlett, John. A Complete Concordance or Verbal Index to Words, Phrases and Passages in the Dramatic Works of Shakespeare with a supplementary concordance to the poems. London, Macmillan, 1960, p. 803. (Uris Ref PR 2892 .B28+)

Other Definitions

2. A rainbow; a many-coloured refraction of light from drops of water.

3. A hexagonal prismatic crystal.

4. a. Anat. A flat, circular, coloured membrane suspended vertically in the aqueous humour of the eye, and separating the anterior from the posterior chamber; in its centre is a circular opening, called the pupil, which may be enlarged or diminished so as to regulate the amount of light transmitted to the retina.

4. b. Entom. The inner ring of an ocellated spot on an insect's wing; usually lighter than the outer ring, and the central spot or pupil.

5. Bot. A genus of plants, the type of the natural order Iridaceæ, natives of Europe, N. Africa, and the temperate regions of Asia and America; most of the species have tuberous (less commonly bulbous or fibrous) roots, sword-shaped equitant leaves, and showy flowers; formerly often called Fleur-de-lis or Flower-de-luce. Also, a plant of this genus.

6. Astron. Name of the seventh of the asteroids.

—selected definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, prepared by J.A. Simpson and E.S.C. Weiner. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Volume 8: pp. 74-75. (Olin and Uris Ref PE 1625 .M98 1989; also online, Cornell only)