iris

Noun

WordNet 3.0

Noun (3)

  1. plants with sword-shaped leaves and erect stalks bearing bright-colored flowers composed of three petals and three drooping sepalsSynonyms: flagfleur-de-lissword lily
  2. muscular diaphragm that controls the size of the pupil which in turn controls the amount of light that enters the eye; it forms the colored portion of the eye
  3. diaphragm consisting of thin overlapping plates that can be adjusted to change the diameter of a central openingSynonyms: iris diaphragm
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Iris \I"ris\, n.; pl. E. Irises, L. Irides. [L. iris, iridis, the goddess, Gr. ?, ?, the rainbow, iris of the eye, the plant Iris. Cf. Orris.]

1.(Class. Myth.) The goddess of the rainbow, and swift-footed messenger of the gods. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

2.The rainbow. --Sir T. Browne. [1913 Webster]

3.An appearance resembling the rainbow; a prismatic play of colors. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]

4.(Anat.) The contractile membrane perforated by the pupil, and forming the colored portion of the eye. See Eye. [1913 Webster]

5.(Bot.) A genus of plants having showy flowers and bulbous or tuberous roots, of which the flower-de-luce (fleur-de-lis), orris, and other species of flag are examples. See Illust. of Flower-de-luce. [1913 Webster]

6.(Her.) See Fleur-de-lis, 2. [1913 Webster]

7.(Zool.) the inner circle of an oscillated color spot. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

8.same as iris diaphragm. [PJC]

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

IRIS

<body> Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship of Brown University (Providence RI).

(1994-11-04)


Iris

An object-oriented DBMS.

(1994-11-04)

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