Definitions

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

  • noun A figure of a man used as a supporting pillar.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In architecture, the figure of a man performing the function of a column or pilaster to support an entablature, in the same manner as a caryatid. They were called atlantes by the Greeks. See atlantes.

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

  • noun A figure of a man used as a pillar for support.

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

  • noun a figure of a man used as a supporting column

Etymologies

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

[Latin, from Greek telamōn, bearer; see telə- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • Ages, or among the Iroquois and Algonquins, make men dispense with corslets, even when the shield was worn, as in Homer, slung round the neck by a _telamon_ (_guige_ in Old French), belt, or baldric.

    Homer and His Age Andrew Lang 1878

  • In _Iliad_, II. 388, the shield (_aspis_) is spoken of as "covering a man about" ([Greek: _amphibrotae_]), while, in the heat of battle, the baldric (_telamon_), or belt of the shield, "shall be wet with sweat."

    Homer and His Age Andrew Lang 1878

  • Down goes the heavy lance; down goes the ponderous shield, suspended by a _telamon: "Ohitarge grant cume peises al col_!" down goes the plated byrnie, "_Ohi grant broine cum me vas apesant_" [Footnote: _La Chancun de Willame_, lines

    Homer and His Age Andrew Lang 1878

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