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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Thyrsus

Thyrsus \Thyr"sus\, n.; pl. Thyrsi. [L., fr. Gr. ?. Cf. Torso.]

  1. A staff entwined with ivy, and surmounted by a pine cone, or by a bunch of vine or ivy leaves with grapes or berries. It is an attribute of Bacchus, and of the satyrs and others engaging in Bacchic rites.

    A good to grow on graves As twist about a thyrsus.
    --Mrs. Browning.

    In my hand I bear The thyrsus, tipped with fragrant cones of pine.
    --Longfellow.

  2. (Bot.) A species of inflorescence; a dense panicle, as in the lilac and horse-chestnut.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
thyrsus

1590s, from Latinized form of Greek thyrsos, literally "stalk or stem of a plant," a non-Greek word of unknown origin. The staff or spear, tipped with an ornament like a pine cone and sometimes wreathed in ivy and vine branches, borne by Dionysus and his votaries.

Wiktionary
thyrsus

n. 1 A staff topped with a conical ornament, carried by Bacchus or his followers. 2 (context botany English) A species of inflorescence; a dense panicle, as in the lilac and horse-chestnut.

WordNet
thyrsus
  1. n. a dense flower cluster (as of the lilac or horse chestnut) in which the main axis is racemose and the branches are cymose [syn: thyrse]

  2. [also: thyrsi (pl)]

Wikipedia
Thyrsus

A thyrsus or thyrsos was a wand or staff of giant fennel ( Ferula communis) covered with ivy vines and leaves, sometimes wound with taeniae and always topped with a pine cone.

Thyrsus (disambiguation)

A thyrsus is a staff of giant fennel covered with ivy vines and leaves.

Thyrsus may also refer to:

  • Thyrsus a mythical figure from Austria
  • Saint Thyrsus (died 251), Christian martyr
  • Thyrsus (Mage: the Awakening), a Mage character
  • Thyrsus González de Santalla (1624-1705), Spanish theologian
Thyrsus (giant)

The giant Thyrsus is a mythical figure from Tyrol. He is said to have lived in Innerleithen close to Reith.

Thyrsus is mentioned in the legend of the giant Haymon. According to tradition, Thyrsus was stronger, more dexterous and half a head taller than Haymon.

Usage examples of "thyrsus".

His rule prescribed no unnatural mortification: its yoke was easy, and its mirthful choruses, combining the gay with the severe, did but commemorate that golden age when earth enjoyed eternal spring, and when fountains of honey, milk, and wine burst forth out of its bosom at the touch of the thyrsus.

He it was that drove the nursing women who were in charge of frenzied Bacchus through the land of Nysa, and they flung their thyrsi on the ground as murderous Lycurgus beat them with his oxgoad.