Eoan
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Relating to the dawn. archaic, not-comparable, poetic
"VVhoſe moſt adored name incloſes, / Things abſtruſe, deep and diuine. / VVhoſe yellovv treſſes ſhine, / Bright as Eoan fire. […] Bright as Eoan fire, / O me thy Prieſt inſpire!"
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of Eoan. alt-of, not-comparable
"I believe, nay, I assert with confidence and deliberation, having clearly in mind all other bedroom woes—such as hard mattress, flock pillows, scant covering, intrusive dawn, eoan bird-songs, disappointed or fatiguing love, companions lapped and chrysalised in robbed blankets and close-gripped sheets, and yet turning and ever turning still—I say with deliberation, that this is the shrewdest stroke of fortune, the harshest bedroom chance, a light only extinguishable by the door."
- 3 Relating to the east; eastern. archaic, not-comparable, poetic
"And from his Orient or Eoan vvave, / VVhere Neptune doth his ſteps in pearle engrave, / Seeing a clearer Sun i' th' VVeſt ariſe / To all his Naids and his Napæis, cries / […] / Tvvo Suns ariſe at once, and in one day / Tvvo Titans to the vvorld their lights diſplay; […]"
Example
More examples"VVhoſe moſt adored name incloſes, / Things abſtruſe, deep and diuine. / VVhoſe yellovv treſſes ſhine, / Bright as Eoan fire. […] Bright as Eoan fire, / O me thy Prieſt inſpire!"
Etymology
From either of the following: * Learned borrowing from Latin ē̆ōus (“of the east; of the dawn”) + -an (suffix forming adjectives). Ē̆ōus is derived from ἠῷος (ēōîos, “of the east; of the morning”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- (“dawn; east”). * Eos (“Greek goddess of the dawn”) + -an. Eos is derived from Ancient Greek Ἠώς (Ēṓs, “Greek goddess of the dawn”), from ἠώς (ēṓs, “dawn, daybreak; morning; day; east”): see above. Cognates * Italian eoo * Portuguese eoo
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.