Apollo

Any of several papilionid butterflies of the genus Parnassius, especially Parnassius apollo of Eurasia (also known as the mountain apollo).

Proper noun

  1. The son of Zeus and Leto (or Jupiter and Latona), and the twin brother of Artemis (or Diana). He was the god of light, music, medicine, and poetry; and prophecy, dance, manly beauty, and more.
    • ‘Blue are the hills that are far away,’ is an owercome in the countryside, and while at first on his side it may have been but a young man’s fancy, to her he was like the god Apollo descending from the skies. - 1902,...
  2. The planet Mercury, when observed as a Morning Star.
  3. Short for 1862 Apollo, an Apollo asteroid.
  4. A United States space program, and the vehicles it created, used for human travel to the moon.
    • Apollo 11 landed people on the moon for the first time.
  5. Apollo Theatre, a music hall in New York City associated with African-American performers.
  6. A male given name.
  7. A placename.

Origin

From Latin Apollō, from Ancient Greek Ἀπόλλων (Apóllōn).

Noun Entry 2

  1. Any of several papilionid butterflies of the genus Parnassius, especially Parnassius apollo of Eurasia (also known as the mountain apollo).

    Related: apollo

  2. A very handsome young man.

    Related: apollo

  3. Acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis.
    • After that, children in school said you could get Apollo, a form of conjunctivitis, by staring at an eclipse too long. - 2005, Sefi Atta, Everything Good Will Come, Arris Books, page 11:
    • Her eyes hurt and when her mother looked at her in the morning and worried that she had Apollo because her eyes were so red she did not tell her otherwise. - 2009, Chika Unigwe, On Black Sisters’ Street, Vintage (2010),...

Forms

Apollos

Antonyms

Hermes

Related

Apolline Apollon Apolo Apollos

Derived

pre-Apollo post-Apollo Apollo Bay Apollo Beach Apollo's belt

Noun astronomy, natural sciences

  1. An asteroid possessing an orbit that crosses the orbit of the Earth and an orbital period of over one year, with semimajor axes greater than 1 AU, and perihelion distances less than 1.017 AU.

Origin

From the object 1862 Apollo.

Forms

Apollos