HERO • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Hero

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/hˈɪroʊ/ Listen

noun

Hero n. (pl. heroes)

(Myth.) An illustrious man, supposed to be exalted, after death, to a place among the gods; a demigod, as Hercules.

A man of distinguished valor or enterprise in danger, or fortitude in suffering; a prominent or central personage in any remarkable action or event; hence, a great or illustrious person. "Each man is a hero and oracle to somebody."

The principal personage in a poem, story, and the like, or the person who has the principal share in the transactions related; as Achilles in the Iliad, Ulysses in the Odyssey, and Aeneas in the Aeneid. "The shining quality of an epic hero."

Hero worship, extravagant admiration for great men, likened to the ancient worship of heroes. 1 "Hero worship exists, has existed, and will forever exist, universally among mankind."

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Etymology of 'Hero'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Hero" Quotes from Famous Books

... dear," said his mother. "You were very brave, and it is lucky that the wolf was not there. You faced what you thought was a great danger, and you were not afraid. You are my hero." ...

— Fifty Famous People • James Baldwin

... much pleased," said Madame Steno, laughing. "He is a handsome fellow; he has talent, fortune. He is the grand-nephew of a hero, which is equivalent to nobility, in my opinion. But Alba has no thought of it, I assure you. She would have told me; she tells me everything. We are two friends, almost two comrades, and she knows ...

— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

... cried Alice. "First you know you'll want to go off and live the simple life under a palm tree, with bananas for lunch and oranges for dinner. And when your—er—your hero—we'll say, comes riding on that milk-white steed I so despise, you'll be so thin that ...

— The Moving Picture Girls Under the Palms - Or Lost in the Wilds of Florida • Laura Lee Hope

... could endure the enemy's tardiness in advancing to the attack. To him this was opportunity—for the result he cared nothing. Victory or defeat, as God might will; in one or in the other he should prove himself a soldier and a hero; he should vindicate his right to the respect of his men and the companionship of his brother officers—to the consideration of his superiors. How his heart leaped in his breast as the bugle sounded the stirring notes of the "assembly"! With what a light tread, scarcely conscious ...

— The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Vol. II: In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians • Ambrose Bierce

... wonder whether he has already passed on from mastering the thought of his approaching death to the remembrance of his wife and children; or whether upon the agony of the physical pang and the insult to courage, which his wound has brought him to endure, is yet to break the pathos of a hero's regret for the relinquished sweetness of love ...

— Memories of Hawthorne • Rose Hawthorne Lathrop

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