phoenix: Meaning and Definition of

phoe•nix

Pronunciation: (fē'niks), [key]
— gen. Phoe•ni•cis
  1. (sometimes cap.) a mythical bird of great beauty fabled to live 500 or 600 years in the Arabian wilderness, to burn itself on a funeral pyre, and to rise from its ashes in the freshness of youth and live through another cycle of years: often an emblem of immortality or of reborn idealism or hope.
  2. (cap.)a southern constellation between Hydrus and Sculptor.
  3. a person or thing of peerless beauty or excellence; paragon.
  4. a person or thing that has become renewed or restored after suffering calamity or apparent annihilation.

Phoe•nix

Pronunciation: (fē'niks), [key]
— n.
    1. the brother of Cadmus and Europa, and eponymous ancestor of the Phoenicians.
    2. a son of Amyntor and Cleobule who became the foster father of Achilles and who fought with the Greek forces in the Trojan War.
  1. a city in and the capital of Arizona, in the central part. 764,911.
  2. a 13-ft. (4 m), 989-lb. (445 kg), U.S. Navy air-to-air missile with radar guidance and a range of over 120 nautical mi.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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