murex
any marine gastropod of the genus Murex, common in tropical seas, certain species of which yield the royal purple dye valued by the ancients.
a shell used as a trumpet, as in representations of Tritons in art.
purplish red.
Origin of murex
1Words Nearby murex
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use murex in a sentence
They have a real murex—the sea snail that got turned into Tyrian purple—from Phoenicia.
How These Rothkos Were Restored Without Touching the Canvas | Adam Rogers | May 30, 2021 | The Daily BeastHe says that Tarentine muslins, woven from the filaments of the pinna dipped in the dye of the murex, rivalled those of Cos.
Needlework As Art | Marian AlfordThey eat turtle and drink claret, but who fished up the murex?
The Browning Cyclopdia | Edward BerdoeNone of the murex family are common, and they are seldom found alive.
Beautiful Shells of New Zealand | E. G. B. MossTrigonia and Inoceramus are found in almost all the zones: other forms less widely distributed are murex and Turritella.
Devonshire | Francis A. Knight
The second wife of Hugh de Sade never stirred the pool of ink from which Petrarch fished his murex up.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 13 | Elbert Hubbard
British Dictionary definitions for murex
/ (ˈmjʊərɛks) /
any of various spiny-shelled marine gastropods of the genus Murex and related genera: formerly used as a source of the dye Tyrian purple
Origin of murex
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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