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Hercules|ˈhɜːkjuːliːz|
[L., ad. Gr. Ἡρακλῆς (-κλέης), f. Ἥρα, Hera, wife of Zeus + κλέος glory, renown, lit. ‘having or showing the glory of Hera’.]
1. A celebrated hero of Greek and Roman mythology, who after death was ranked among the gods and received divine honours. He is represented as possessed of prodigious strength, whereby he was enabled to perform twelve extraordinary tasks or ‘labours’ imposed upon him by Hera, to which, and to his club, there are many allusions in literature. In Greek and Latin his name is used in exclamations and asseverations.
c1369Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 1058 Thogh I had hadde..al the strengthe of Ercules. 1551T. Wilson Logike (1580) 74 b, A tale of one, whose carte stode fast in the mire, whiche man..cried to Hercules for helpe. 1581G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 21 A travel and charge farre greater than the twelve labors of Hercules. a1592Greene George a Greene Wks. (Rtldg.) 259/1 ‘Not Hercules against two’ the proverb is. 1678Dryden All for Love ii. i, O Hercules! Why should a Man like this..Be all the care of heav'n? Ibid., By Hercules, the Writing of Octavius!
b. A representation of Hercules or a strong man.
1638F. Junius Paint. Ancients 164 [He] was taken with nothing so much as with a little Hercules standing upon the table. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) I. vii. xciii. 427 The arms of the house of Brandenburg, supported by two herculeses.
c. Pillars of Hercules, Hercules' Pillars: the rocks Calpé (now Gibraltar) and Abyla (Ceuta), on either side of the Strait of Gibraltar, thought by the ancients to be the supports of the western boundary of the world, and to have been set up by Hercules; so Straits of Hercules. Hence fig., an ultimate limit, the ne plus ultra.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 298 To þe see Gaditanus, þere Hercules his pileres stondeþ. 1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 87 We must laie before us the noble devise of Charles the fifth, to wit, the pillers of Hercules, and to dispose ourselves to goe beyond them. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 64 A parochiall Minister, who has his reward, and is at his Hercules pillars in a warm benefice. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii, The Mediterranean squadron..was vainly struggling to pass the pillars of Hercules.
2. One who resembles Hercules in strength; a man of prodigious strength; a big man.
1567Triall Treas. (1850) 11 Where is now that valiaunt Hercules? For all his bragges, he is nowe runne away. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 561 Others there are, who can be satisfied with nothing less than heroism in self⁓denial; they must be..Herculeses to subdue all monsters. 1858Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. I. xlii. 163 The tea⁓kettle was brought in by a black Hercules.
3. A fanciful name given to powerful machines:
a. A heavy weight used like the ram or ‘monkey’ in a pile-driving machine.
b. A kind of machine for cleansing the streets.
1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 80 The Hercules is used for setting straight the shank, welding..the arms to the shank, of large anchors. It consists of a weight of about 400 lb. faced with steel, and a long iron shank. 1880Encycl. Brit. XI. 425/1 The ‘Hercules’, a ponderous mass of iron attached to a vertical guide rod, which was lifted originally by a gang of men with ropes, but afterwards by steam power, and allowed to fall by its own weight. 1890Daily News 1 Feb. 3/3 This new contrivance is called the ‘Hercules’ machine—an apt name for the Augæan stable of London..This new Hercules can scrape thoroughly clean, in sixty minutes, half a mile in length by nearly thirty feet in width of the dirtiest street space in London.
4. Entom. (In full, Hercules beetle). A gigantic lamellicorn beetle, Dynastes (or Megasoma) Hercules, about five inches in length.
1816P. Wakefield Nat. Hist. Insects iv. 28 The largest of this genus is called the Hercules, and is a Native of South America. 1840Swainson Nat. Hist. Insects 232 Turn to..the Hercules beetle..it cannot for a moment be doubted that this gigantic insect is completely arboreal.
5. Bot. = Hercules' club.
1756P. Browne Jamaica (1789) 189 Zanthoxylum..Prickly Yellow-wood, or yellow Hercules.
6. Astron. A name of one of the northern constellations, figured as a man kneeling on his right knee; known to the earlier Greek and Roman writers as ἐνγόνασι(ν, genunixus, ingenic(u)lus, the ‘kneeler’.
1674Moxon Tutor Astron. (ed. 3) 212 Engonasis..some will have it to be Hercules, that mighty Conqueror. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., The stars in the constellation Hercules, in Ptolemy's catalogue, are 29. 1838Penny Cycl. XII. 148 Hercules, one of the old constellations, called ἐνγονασιν by Aratus, Hyginus, and Ptolemy, and described by the first as ‘a figure like that of a man in sorrow’. [Hyginus Poet. Astron. (b.c. 10) has En Gonasin. Hunc Eratosthenes Herculem dicit.]
7. Comb. Hercules-like adj.; Hercules' allheal, a perennial umbelliferous plant, Opopanax Chironium; Hercules braid (see quot.); Hercules knot, a kind of knot, attributed to Hercules, very difficult to undo; Hercules powder, a powerful explosive used in mining operations.
1597Gerarde Herbal 850 *Hercules Alheale or Woundwort.
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework, *Hercules Braid, a thick corded worsted braid, which is employed for trimmings.
1601Holland Pliny II. 305 As for greene wounds, it is wonderfull how soon they will be healed, in case they be bound vp and tied with a *Hercules knot. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. xxi. 265 The true lovers knot..had perhaps its originall from Nodus Herculanus, or that which was called Hercules his knot.
1593Bacchus' Bountie in Harl. Misc. (1809) II. 304 All the other gods and goddesses, *Hercules-like, are cloyed with such cholericke clubbes.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Hercules powder. 1882Copp Amer. Mining Code 101 The principal explosives used in mining are..rend-rock, Hercules..and other powders. |