empuse

Latin empusa, from Ancient Greek.

• IPA^(key): /ɛmˈpjuːz/

empuse (plural empuses)

1. (obsolete) A phantom; ghost; spectre.
   • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “[XXVIII Sermons Preached at Golden Grove; Being for the Summer Half-year, […].] ”, in ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1654, →OCLC:

     But Suidas tells of certain Empuse that used to appear at such times as the Greeks did celebrate the funerals of the dead

• “empuse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

empuse f (plural empuses)

1. Any praying mantis of genus Empusa
2. empusa

• “empuse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.