Cerberus
['sə:bərəs]
Definition
(noun.) (Greek mythology) the three-headed dog guarding the entrance to Hades; son of Typhon.
Typed by Bartholdi--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A monster, in the shape of a three-headed dog, guarding the entrance into the infernal regions, Hence: Any vigilant custodian or guardian, esp. if surly.
(n.) A genus of East Indian serpents, allied to the pythons; the bokadam.
Edited by Kitty
Definition
n. (myth.) the monster that guarded the entrance to Hades a dog with three according to some a hundred heads.—adj. Cerbē′rian.
Checked by Godiva
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. The watch-dog of Hades whose duty it was to guard the entrance—against whom or what does not clearly appear; everybody sooner or later had to go there and nobody wanted to carry off the entrance. Cerberus is known to have had three heads and some of the poets have credited him with as many as a hundred. Professor Graybill whose clerky erudition and profound knowledge of Greek give his opinion great weight has averaged all the estimates and makes the number twenty-seven—a judgment that would be entirely conclusive if Professor Graybill had known (a) something about dogs and (b) something about arithmetic.
Checker: Thomas