Hercules
name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A Hercules beetle.
- 2 A man with Herculean attributes.
"For the immaculate gentleman her cries had lured to what was to have been his death had been suddenly metamorphosed into a demon of revenge. Instead of soft muscles and a weak resistance, she was looking upon a veritable Hercules gone mad."
- 1 The Roman name for the Greek divine hero Heracles, who was the son of Jupiter and Alcmene, a celebrated hero who possessed exceptional strength. Most famous for his twelve labours performed to redeem himself after killing his family. Roman
"THere were many Hercules'''’s, but (as Tully ſays, de Nat. Deor. lib. 3.) the famous Actions of them all are aſcrib’d to him who was the Son of Jupiter, by Alcmena, the Wife of Amphitryo King of Thebes."
- 2 A summer constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble the mythical hero, lying between the constellations Lyra and Corona Borealis.
- 3 A crater in the first quadrant on the moon.
- 4 A male given name from Ancient Greek. countable, rare
- 5 A city in Contra Costa County, California, United States.
Example
More examples"The next instant Hercules caught hold of the monster."
Etymology
From Latin Herculēs, from Etruscan 𐌇𐌄𐌓𐌂𐌋𐌄 (hercle), from Ancient Greek Ἡρακλῆς (Hēraklês), apparently cognate of Ἥρα (Hḗra, “Hera”) and, according to Haudry, from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, season”) + κλέος (kléos, “glory”).
Related phrases
More for "hercules"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.