• argus •
Pronunciation: ahr-gês • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A watchful person, a guard or guardian, a lookout.
Notes: No doubt because of the rarity of its use, today's Good Word, is virtually a lexical orphan. Someone on the Web claims that they "argusly monitor national and international news", using a correctly formed adverb that could be used as an adjective, paralleling friendly, manly, and the like. This word has been used in two compounds in the past, argus-eyed an argus-like.
In Play: There is no better guardian of our property than an argus: "Don't worry about the car, dad: I'll keep an argus-eyed watch on it whether I'm in it or not." Of course, this word may be used sarcastically: "My store was robbed while the two arguses I hired to guard it at night were watching TV."
Word History: Today's Good Word is an eponym of Argos, a giant in Greek mythology who had a hundred eyes, no more than two of which were closed at the same time. He was therefore the perfect guard. When he was killed by Hermes, the goddess Hera gave his eyes to her favorite bird, the peacock.
ARGUS
- Dr. Goodword
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ARGUS
• The Good Dr. Goodword
- Dr. Goodword
- Site Admin
- Posts: 7417
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Argus the Dog?
Melissa,
I don't quite get the reference here. Which 'Argus' do you have in mind?
I don't quite get the reference here. Which 'Argus' do you have in mind?
• The Good Dr. Goodword
Argos
Kazantzakis notwithstanding,
His bleary eyes had recognized his master well,
he'd crawled and quivered, rushed with whimpering whines, then twined and tangled with his master's feet, licked at his heels, but the dread hunter, forcing his tears back with stealth, had quickly seized the grimy neck that throbbed with joy and squeezed until the faithful hound rolled over, dead,
though his tail's naked tip still quivered with delight.
-is why I remember Argos as the turning point of the Odyssey,
it was all downhill from there.
His bleary eyes had recognized his master well,
he'd crawled and quivered, rushed with whimpering whines, then twined and tangled with his master's feet, licked at his heels, but the dread hunter, forcing his tears back with stealth, had quickly seized the grimy neck that throbbed with joy and squeezed until the faithful hound rolled over, dead,
though his tail's naked tip still quivered with delight.
-is why I remember Argos as the turning point of the Odyssey,
it was all downhill from there.
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