What does herse mean?

Definitions for herse
herse

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word herse.


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Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. HERSEnoun

    Etymology: hersia, low Latin; supposed to come from herian , to praise.

    When mourning nymphs attend their Daphnis’ herse,
    Who does not weep that reads the moving verse? Wentworth Dillon.

    Crowds of dead in decent pomp are born;
    Their friends attend the herse, the next relations mourn. John Dryden, Virgil’s Georg. b. iv.

    On all the line a sudden vengeance waits,
    And frequent herses shall besiege your gates. Alexander Pope.

  2. To Herseverb

    To put into an herse.

    Etymology: from the noun.

    I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear. O, would she were hers’d at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin. William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice.

    The Grecians spritefully drew from the darts the corse,
    And hers’d it, bearing it to fleet. George Chapman, Iliads.

    The house is hers’d about with a black wood,
    Which nods with many a heavy-headed tree:
    Each flower’s a pregnant poison, try’d and good;
    Each herb a plague. Richard Crashaw.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Hersenoun

    a kind of gate or portcullis, having iron bars, like a harrow, studded with iron spikes. It is hung above gateways so that it may be quickly lowered, to impede the advance of an enemy

  2. Hersenoun

    see Hearse, a carriage for the dead

  3. Hersenoun

    a funeral ceremonial

  4. Herseverb

    same as Hearse, v. t

  5. Etymology: [F. herse harrow, portcullis, OF. herce, LL. hercia, L. hirpex, gen. hirpicis, and irpex, gen. irpicis, harrow. The LL. hercia signifies also a kind of candlestick in the form of a harrow, having branches filled with lights, and placed at the head of graves or cenotaphs; whence herse came to be used for the grave, coffin, or chest containing the dead. Cf. Hearse.]

Wikidata

  1. Herse

    Herse is a figure in Greek mythology, daughter of Cecrops, sister to Aglauros and Pandrosos. According to the Bibliotheca, when Hephaestus unsuccessfully attempted to rape Athena, she wiped his semen off her leg with wool and threw it on the ground, impregnating Gaia. Athena wished to make the resulting infant Erichthonius immortal and to raise it, so she gave it to three sisters, Herse, Aglauros and Pandrosos, in a willow basket and warned them to never open it. Aglauros and Herse disobeyed her and opened the basket which contained the infant and future king, Erichthonius, who was somehow mixed or intertwined with a snake. The sight caused Herse and Aglauros to go insane and they jumped to their deaths off the Acropolis. Shrines were constructed for Herse and Aglauros on the Acropolis. An alternative version of the story is that, while Athena was gone bringing a mountain from Pallena to use in the Acropolis, the sisters, minus Pandrosos again, opened the box with Erichthonius inside. A crow witnessed the opening and flew away to tell Athena, who fell into a rage and dropped the mountain. Once again, Herse and Aglauros went insane and threw themselves to their deaths off the cliffs of the Acropolis. This story supposedly inspired an ancient ritual in Athens: "The Festival of the Dew Carriers" or Arrhephoria.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Herse

    hėrs, n. (fort.) a portcullis: a species of cheval-de-frise.—adj. Hersed, arranged in harrow form. [Hearse.]

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. herse

    (from the Fr. herise). In fortification, a grated door, formed by strong pieces of wood joined crosswise, and stuck full of iron spikes. It is usually hung by a rope, and fastened to a moulinet, which is cut in case of a surprise, or when the first gate is forced by a petard, so that it may fall like a portcullis and stop the passage of a gate or other entrance of a fortress.

Anagrams for herse »

  1. shree

  2. sheer

  3. sereh

How to pronounce herse?

How to say herse in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of herse in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of herse in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1


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"herse." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/herse>.

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