3 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

hero

noun

1: a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength; "RAF pilots were the heroes of the Battle of Britain"

2: the principal character in a play or movie or novel or poem

3: someone who fights for a cause [syn: {champion}, {fighter}, {paladin}]

4: Greek mathematician and inventor who devised a way to determine the area of a triangle and who described various mechanical devices (first century) [syn: {Heron}, {Hero of Alexandria}]

5: (classical mythology) a being of great strength and courage celebrated for bold exploits; often the offspring of a mortal and a god

6: (Greek mythology) priestess of Aphrodite who killed herself when her lover Leander drowned while trying to swim the Hellespont to see her

7: a large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States [syn: {bomber}, {grinder}, {hero sandwich}, {hoagie}, {hoagy}, {Cuban sandwich}, {Italian sandwich}, {poor boy}, {sub}, {submarine}, {submarine sandwich}, {torpedo}, {wedge}, {zep}] [also: {heroes} (pl)]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

heroes See {hero}

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Hero \He"ro\, noun; pl. {Heroes}. [F. h['e]ros, L. heros, Gr. ?.]

1. (Myth.) An illustrious man, supposed to be exalted, after death, to a place among the gods; a demigod, as Hercules.

2. A man of distinguished valor or enterprise in danger, or fortitude in suffering; a prominent or central personage in any remarkable action or event; hence, a great or illustrious person.

Each man is a hero and oracle to somebody. --Emerson.

3. The principal personage in a poem, story, and the like, or the person who has the principal share in the transactions related; as Achilles in the Iliad, Ulysses in the Odyssey, and [AE]neas in the [AE]neid.

The shining quality of an epic hero. --Dryden.

{Hero worship}, extravagant admiration for great men, likened to the ancient worship of heroes. 1

Hero worship exists, has existed, and will forever exist, universally among mankind. --Carlyle.
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