Definitions

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

  • noun A rectangular, often tapering stone post bearing a carved head or bust, usually of Hermes, used as a boundary marker in ancient Greece and for decorative purposes in later periods.

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

  • abbreviation Abbreviation of hermaphrodite.
  • noun sometimes pejorative A hermaphrodite.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a statue consisting of a squared stone pillar with a carved head (usually a bearded Hermes) on top; used in ancient Greece as a boundary marker or signpost

Etymologies

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

[Latin hermēs, herma, from Greek hermēs, from Hermēs, Hermes.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hermes

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hermaphroditus, originally a male Aphrodite (Aphroditus) and represented as a herm.

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Examples

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  • Dictionary.com

    –noun a monument consisting of a four-sided shaft tapering inward from top to bottom and bearing a head or bust; those of Hermes usually had an erect penis, which passersby stroked for luck.

    January 26, 2008

  • From "C. Musonius Rufus" by Guy Davenport

    January 19, 2010

  • The prudish among us may squirm

    But scholars and aesthetes confirm:

    The carver of stone adds

    Some prominent gonads

    As tokens of luck on each herm.

    March 6, 2018