Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the gods.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun Greek mythology A messenger of the gods, and goddess of rainbows.
  • proper noun A female given name; a flower name used since the end of the 19th century.
  • proper noun astronomy 7 Iris, an asteroid
  • proper noun A taxonomic genus within the family Iridaceae — the irises.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin Īris, from Greek, from īris, rainbow; see wei- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Ancient Greek Ἶρις iris "rainbow".

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Iris.

Examples

  • Pictured: Iris germanica, bearded iris; Iris sibirica "Gull's Wing"

    THE IRRESISTIBLE IRIS Pooky 2008

  • Pictured: Iris germanica, bearded iris; Iris sibirica "Gull's Wing"

    Archive 2008-03-01 Pooky 2008

  • And the iris, named after the Greek messenger goddess of the rainbow, Iris, the sister of the messenger god, Hermes, is what The Green Man calls a "grateful" perennial.

    THE IRRESISTIBLE IRIS Pooky 2008

  • And the iris, named after the Greek messenger goddess of the rainbow, Iris, the sister of the messenger god, Hermes, is what The Green Man calls a "grateful" perennial.

    Archive 2008-03-01 Pooky 2008

  • PRINCETON, N.J. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Sarnoff Corporation, a leading provider of iris imaging technology, today announced it has been selected by the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to test its Iris on the Move® (IOM) -

    unknown title 2009

  • Sarnoff Corporation, a leading provider of iris imaging technology, today announced it has been selected by the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to test its Iris on the Move

    unknown title 2009

  • Sarnoff Corporation, a leading provider of iris imaging technology, today announced it has been selected by the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to test its Iris on the Move

    unknown title 2009

  • However, in a paper with some colleagues at NASA, we attempted it and discovered what we referred to as the Iris Effect wherein the upper level cirrus clouds associated with a cumulus tower contracted with increased temperature, providing a very strong negative climate feedback sufficient to drive the response to a doubling of CO2 well below 1C Lindzen, Chou and Hou, 200013.

    Hansen and Schmidt: Predicting the Past? « Climate Audit 2006

  • Then, as if he had waited for this moment, he turned to the assembled company and delivered an eloquent panegyric of the _Andromeda's_ crew and their _deusa deliciosa_ -- for that is what he called Iris -- a delightful goddess.

    The Stowaway Girl Louis Tracy 1895

  • Oddly, a friend of mine knew one of the fringe characters in 'Iris', and she had quite a lot to say about things which weren't quite right (my friend, not the fringe character).

    Iris and Grizzly Man: Two Films That Seem Completely Unconnected, But Which Become Melded As One In My Fevered Psyche Cazzab 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.