- Greek Mythology. The rarefied fluid said to run in the veins of the gods.
- Pathology. A watery, acrid discharge from a wound or ulcer.
[Middle English icor, from Late Latin īchōr, from Greek īkhōr.]
ichorous i'chor·ous (ī'kər-əs) adj.
Dictionary:
i·chor (ī'kôr', ī'kər) ![]() |
[Middle English icor, from Late Latin īchōr, from Greek īkhōr.]
ichorous i'chor·ous (ī'kər-əs) adj.| Devil's Dictionary: ichor |
n.
A fluid that serves the gods and goddesses in place of blood.
Fair Venus, speared by Diomed,
Restrained the raging chief and said:
"Behold, rash mortal, whom you've bled --
Your soul's stained white with ichorshed!"
Mary Doke
| Wikipedia: Ichor |
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In Greek mythology, ichor (pronounced /ˈaɪkər/ or /ˈɪkər/; Greek ἰχώρ) is the ethereal fluid that is the Greek gods' blood, sometimes said to have been present in ambrosia or nectar.[citation needed] When a god was injured and bled, the ichor made his or her blood poisonous to mortals.[citation needed]
In pathology, an antiquated term for a watery discharge from a wound or ulcer with an unpleasant or fetid (offensive) smell.[1]
H. P. Lovecraft often used ichor in his descriptions of other-worldly creatures, most prominently in his nightmarish detail of the remains of Wilbur Whateley, in "The Dunwich Horror".
The term ichor is often misused in fantasy contexts by authors trying to find a different word for "blood" or "ooze", to the point that it has become cliché. Author Ursula LeGuin, in "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", calls the term "the infallible touchstone of the seventh-rate."[2]
Ichor has also been used in science fiction as an alien substitute for blood, as in Garth Nix's book Shade's Children. Additionally, in the Dragonriders of Pern novel series, Anne McCaffrey refers to the blood of the alien (but genetically enhanced by humans) Pernese dragons as ichor.
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| ichorrhea | |
| ichorous | |
| petrichor (word) |
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![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd. Read more | |
![]() | Devil's Dictionary. Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, 1911 Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ichor". Read more |
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