hero : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: hero	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for hero
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
hero n a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength; "RAF pilots were the heroes of the Battle of Britain" the principal character in a play or movie or novel or poem someone who fights for a cause Synonym(s): champion, fighter, hero, paladin Greek mathematician and inventor who devised a way to determine the area of a triangle and who described various mechanical devices (first century) Synonym(s): Hero, Heron, Hero of Alexandria (classical mythology) a being of great strength and courage celebrated for bold exploits; often the offspring of a mortal and a god (Greek mythology) priestess of Aphrodite who killed herself when her lover Leander drowned while trying to swim the Hellespont to see her 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 Synonym(s): bomber, grinder, hero, hero sandwich, hoagie, hoagy, Cuban sandwich, Italian sandwich, poor boy, sub, submarine, submarine sandwich, torpedo, wedge, zep
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Hero \He"ro\, n.; pl. {Heroes}. [F. h[82]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 [92]neas in the [92]neid. The shining quality of an epic hero. --Dryden. {Hero worship}, extravagant admiration for great men, likened to the ancient worship of heroes. Hero worship exists, has existed, and will forever exist, universally among mankind. --Carlyle.