Lexic.us

Definition of Papyrus

1. Noun. Paper made from the papyrus plant by cutting it in strips and pressing it flat; used by ancient Egyptians and Greeks and Romans.

2. Noun. Tall sedge of the Nile valley yielding fiber that served many purposes in historic times.

3. Noun. A document written on papyrus.

Definition of Papyrus

1. n. A tall rushlike plant (Cyperus Papyrus) of the Sedge family, formerly growing in Egypt, and now found in Abyssinia, Syria, Sicily, etc. The stem is triangular and about an inch thick.

Definition of Papyrus

1. Noun. (usually uncountable) A plant in the sedge family, ''Cyperus papyrus'', native to the Nile river valley. ¹

2. Noun. (usually uncountable) A material similar to paper made from the papyrus plant. ¹

3. Noun. A scroll or document written on papyrus. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Papyrus

1. a tall aquatic plant [n -RUSES or -RI] : PAPYRAL, PAPYRIAN, PAPYRINE [adj]

Medical Definition of Papyrus

1. Origin: L, fr. Gr. See Paper. 1. A tall rushlike plant (Cyperus Papyrus) of the Sedge family, formerly growing in Egypt, and now found in Abyssinia, Syria, Sicily, etc. The stem is triangular and about an inch thick. 2. The material upon which the ancient Egyptians wrote. It was formed by cutting the stem of the plant into thin longitudinal slices, which were gummed together and pressed. 3. A manuscript written on papyrus; especially, pl, written scrolls made of papyrus; as, the papyri of Egypt or Herculaneum. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Papyrus

papyraceous papyraceous scars papyral papyrean papyri papyrian papyriform papyrine papyrograph papyrographs

papyrography papyrologies papyrologist papyrologists papyrology papyrus (current term) papyruses paquebot paquebots par

par excellence par for the course par value par yield par yields para para- para-actinomycosis para-aortic bodies para-appendicitis

Literary usage of Papyrus

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1919)
"papyrus has been used as a medium for writing on from the very earliest antiquity; ... The ancient papyrus writings of the Egyptians arc in several kinds of ..."

2. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and (1911)
"papyrus rolls are represented in ancient Egyptian wall-paintings; ... The most ancient Egyptian papyrus now known contains accounts of the reign of King ..."

3. Life of John Boyle O'Reilly by James Jeffrey Roche, Mary Murphy O'Reilly (1891)
"The charm of the papyrus is that it is essentially an ideal club. ... Two years before, at the dinner of the papyrus, on February 3, Mr. William A. Hovey ..."

4. The Harvard Theological Review by Harvard Divinity School (1921)
"NOTES A papyrus MANUSCRIPT OF THE MINOR PROPHETS Among the parchment and papyrus manuscripts and fragments brought to this country by the University of ..."

5. Manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians: Including Their Private Life by John Gardner Wilkinson (1837)
"And that under the name " papyrus " he includes other kinds of cyperus produced spontaneously in the marshy lands, is evident from his observing that, ..."

6. Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book by Marshall Clagett (1989)
"The editor of the Reisner Papyri, William Kelly Simpson, describes the discovery and the character of the Reisner papyrus I succinctly:1 The document which ..."

Other Resources: