clepsydra
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Latin clepsydra, from Ancient Greek κλεψύδρα (klepsúdra), from κλέπτειν (kléptein, “to steal”) + ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: klĕp'sĭdrə, IPA(key): /ˈklɛpsɪdɹə/
Noun
clepsydra (plural clepsydras or clepsydrae)
- Synonym of water clock, especially (historical) ancient Greek and Roman forms.
- 1953, John Wyndham, The Kraken Wakes, page 124:
- "The dull, unflavoured drops from life's clepsydra".
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 856:
- They sat among the choiring clepsydras of the evening garden, time elapsing in a dozen ways, allowing their cigars to go out, keeping a companionable silence.
Derived terms
Anagrams
Latin
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Ancient Greek κλεψύδρα (klepsúdra, “pipette, water clock”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkɫɛp.sy.dra]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈklɛp.si.d̪ra]
Noun
clepsydra f (genitive clepsydrae); first declension
Declension
First-declension noun.
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | clepsydra | clepsydrae |
genitive | clepsydrae | clepsydrārum |
dative | clepsydrae | clepsydrīs |
accusative | clepsydram | clepsydrās |
ablative | clepsydrā | clepsydrīs |
vocative | clepsydra | clepsydrae |
Descendants
- English: clepsydra
- Italian: clessidra
References
- “clepsydra”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “clepsydra”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- "clepsydra", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- clepsydra in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- “clepsydra”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia[1]
- “clepsydra”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “clepsydra”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin