Polyphemus

American  

[pol-uh-fee-muhs] / ˌpɒl əˈfi məs /

noun

Classical Mythology.

1. a Cyclops who was blinded by Odysseus.

---

Polyphemus British  

/ ˌpɒlɪˈfiːməs /

noun

1. Greek myth a cyclops who imprisoned Odysseus and his companions in his cave. To effect his escape, Odysseus blinded him

---

Example Sentences

The EU says a primitive form of feta is mentioned in the Odyssey, when the hero of the ancient epic takes cheese from the cave of the cyclops Polyphemus.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

The fountain is enormous, a giant colonnaded structure decorated with carved figures, and at its center a huge bronze Polyphemus shown in the act of surprising Acis and Galatea.

From New York Times • Apr. 19, 2022

Extraordinary bass-baritone Davóne Tines, also best known for bringing intense immediacy to new music, is the gripping Polyphemus.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 28, 2020

Henderson’s totemic character is Polyphemus, the half-divine Cyclops whose appearance in Homer’s “Odyssey” is one of the poem’s most harrowing episodes.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 16, 2015

Polyphemus threw another boulder, and this time I watched helplessly as it sailed over my head and crashed through the hull of the Queen Anne’s Revenge.

From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan