Pygmalion

[ pig-mey-lee-uhn, -meyl-yuhn ]

noun

1. Classical Mythology. a sculptor and king of Cyprus who carved an ivory statue of a maiden and fell in love with it. It was brought to life, in response to his prayer, by Aphrodite.
2. (italics) a comedy (1912) by George Bernard Shaw.

Pygmalion

/ pɪɡˈmeɪlɪən /

noun

1. Greek myth a king of Cyprus, who fell in love with the statue of a woman he had sculpted and which his prayers brought to life as Galatea

Pygmalion

¹

1. A play by George Bernard Shaw , about a professor, Henry Higgins, who trains a poor, uneducated girl, Eliza Doolittle, to act and speak like a lady. Shaw based his story on a tale from Greek mythology about a sculptor who carves a statue of a woman and falls in love with it ( see under “Mythology and Folklore” ).

Pygmalion

²

1. In classical mythology , a sculptor who at first hated women but then fell in love with a statue he made of a woman. He prayed to Venus that she would find him a woman like the statue. Instead, Venus made the statue come to life.

Notes

The play Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw , adapts this theme : a professor trains a girl from the gutter to speak and behave like a lady, and then he and his new creation become attached to each other. This play became the basis for the musical comedy My Fair Lady .

Example Sentences

The pulse of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, about a man so in love with an illusion he can’t see the reality before him, thrums inside every person who’s obsessed with movies, but the Pygmalion dreams it’s drawn from are universal.

From Time

This premise was already tired by the time “She’s All That” came around — the movie was loosely based on “My Fair Lady,” after all, itself a take on “Pygmalion” — but teen comedies don’t always need to avoid tropes to succeed.

From Washington Post

On January 29, 1999—exactly 15 years ago—a modern day adaptation of Pygmalion was thrust on an unsuspecting public.

From The Daily Beast

The notion of handcrafting a flawless spouse was nothing new—the Pygmalion myth dates back to ancient Greece.

From The Daily Beast

Pygmalion, king of Cyprus, was a sworn bachelor, and had shunned the society of women for many years.

From Project Gutenberg

But Gilbert never soared so high either in his philosophy or in his art as in Pygmalion and Galatea.

From Project Gutenberg

To this statue Venus, at Pygmalion's request, gives life; but she withholds the power of loving.

From Project Gutenberg

In "Pygmalion" we are asked to suppose that Venus is indignant with the sculptor for his lack of susceptibility to female charms.

From Project Gutenberg

Pygmalion, before his perfect statue, is not successful,—for it might live.

From Project Gutenberg