What is "adonis"

Adonis \A*do"nis\ ([.a]*d[=o]"n[i^]s), n. [L., gr. Gr. 'A`dwnis.]

1. (Gr. Myth.) A youth beloved by Venus for his beauty. He was killed in the chase by a wild boar.

2. A pre["e]minently beautiful young man; a dandy.

3. (Bot.) A genus of plants of the family Ranunculace[ae], containing the pheasant's eye ( Adonis autumnalis); -- named from Adonis, whose blood was fabled to have stained the flower.

"a beau," 1620s, from Greek Adonis, name of the youth beloved by Aphrodite, from Phoenician adon "lord," probably originally "ruler," from base a-d-n "to judge, rule." Adonai is the Hebrew cognate.

1. n. any handsome young man

2. annual or perennial herbs [syn: genus Adonis]

3. (Greek mythology) a handsome youth loved by Aphrodite, the goddess of love

Adonis (; ), in Greek mythology, is a central figure in various mystery religions. In 1966, Wahib Attalah wrote that the "cult of Adonis belonged to women," and further asserted "the cult of dying Adonis was fully developed in the circle of young girls around Sappho on Lesbos, about 600 BC, as a fragment of Sappho reveals."

There has been much scholarship over the centuries concerning the multiple roles of Adonis, if any, and his meaning and purpose in Greek religious beliefs. Modern scholarship sometimes describes him as an annually renewed, ever-youthful vegetation god, a life-death-rebirth deity whose nature is tied to the calendar. His name is often applied in modern times to handsome youths, of whom he is the archetype.

Adonis is a hero in Greek mythology.

Adonis may also refer to:

People:

• Adonis or Adunis, pen name of Ali Ahmad Said (born 1930), Syrian poet
• Adonis (musician), house music pioneer
• Adonis Stevenson (born 1977), Haitian- Canadian professional boxer
• Adrian Adonis, ring name of Keith Franke (1954–1988), American professional wrestler
• Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis (born 1963), British politician
• Bernard Adonis, a member of the National Assembly of Seychelles
• Joe Adonis (1902–1971), New York mobster
• Neil Adonis (born 1969), South African baseball player

Fictional characters:

• Adonis Creed, protagonist of the film Creed
• Adonis (comics), a Marvel Comics character
• A fictional character from the fantasy series Dyosa
• A minor character in the Teen Titans animated series
• Dark Adonis, a character from the video game series Disgaea

Other uses:

• Adonis, West Virginia
• Adonis (plant), genus in the plant family Ranunculaceae
• Adonis (musical), 1884 burlesque musical
• 2101 Adonis, near-Earth asteroid
• KL-7, cipher machine codenamed ADONIS
• USS Adonis (ARL-4), United States Navy landing craft repair ship
• Adonis class schooners, ten Royal Navy vessels launched in 1806
• Nahr Ibrahim, a river in Lebanon formerly called the Adonis River
• ADONIS (software), a Business Process Analysis (BPA) tool
• Marché Adonis, grocery store chain located in Quebec and Ontario, Canada

Adonis is a genus of about 20–30 species of flowering plants of the crowfoot family, Ranunculaceae, native to Europe and Asia.

The species grow to in height, with feathery, finely divided leaves. Their flowers are red, yellow or orange and have 5–30 petals. The Autumn Adonis, pheasant's-eye (A. annua), has flowers with bright red petals.

The generic name Adonis refers to the mythic character Adonis, a lover of the goddess Aphrodite or Venus. According to the Metamorphoses of Ovid the anemone, also of the family Ranunculaceae, was created when Venus sprinkled nectar on his blood.

Adonis (born Adonis Smith; January 4, 1963) is an American acid house pioneer who made his name with the classic 1986 tracks "No Way Back" and "We're Rockin Down The House".

1. Redirect List of Marvel Comics characters: A#Adonis

Category:Marvel Comics supervillains

ADONIS is a Business Process Analysis (BPA) tool supporting business process management based on BPMS framework created at the University of Vienna. It is developed by the BOC Information Technologies Consulting GmbH. It allows business process modeling using BPMS notation and BPMN 2.0, process analysis, simulation, evaluation as well as publishing and process automation with BPMN 2.0 XML (BPMN DI) and XPDL.

Apart from commercial ADONIS, freeware Community Edition is available.

Adonis is an 1884 burlesque musical produced by Edward E. Rice who also composed the music along with John Eller. The book was written by William Gill.

After playing at Hooley's Opera House in Chicago in the summer of 1884, it debuted at the Bijou Theatre in New York on September 4, 1884. It there had a run of 603 consecutive performances, making it the longest-running show on Broadway during that period, and the longest Broadway run of all time until 1893. It was co-written and directed by Henry E. Dixey who also starred as the titular Adonis.

Adonis tells the story of a gorgeous male statue that comes to life and finds human ways so unpleasant that he chooses to turn back into stone – after spoofing several famous personalities.

The company traveled to London after the play closed in New York.