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ἕλιξ (B), poet. εἷλιξ , ι^κος, ἡ, (ἑλίσσω)
A.anything which assumes a spiral shape: once in Hom., γναμπτάς θ᾽ ἕλικας, of armlets or ear-rings, Il.18.401 (cf. ἑλικτήρ), cf. h.Ven.87, Arist.Mir.840b20:—afterwards in various relations:
II. whirl, convolution, ἕλικες στεροπῆς flashes of forked lightning, A.Pr.1083 (anap.); of circular or spiral motion, “αἱ κινήσεις καὶ ἕλικες τοῦ οὐρανοῦ” Arist.Metaph.998a5; “ἕλικα ἐκτυλίσσειν” Ti.Locr.97c; wreath of smoke, A.R.1.438.
III. tendril of the vine, Thphr.CP2.18.2; “βοσκὰς εὐφύλλων ἑλίκων” E.Hel.1331 (lyr.); βότρυος ἕλικα παυσίπονον the clustering grape, Ar.Ra. 1321 (lyr.).
2. tendril of ivy, Id.Th.1000; also, ivy. Hedera Helix, Thphr.HP3.18.6,7.8.1.
3. curl or lock of hair, AP10.19 (Apollonid.), 12.10 (Strat.), Anacreont.16.6.
4. coil of a serpent, E.HF399(lyr.): pl.,feelers of the polypus, AP9.14 (Antiphil. Byz.).
5. volute on the capital of a column, Callix.1, Vitr.4.1.12.
IV. convolution of a spiral shell (cf. “ἑλίκη” 11), Arist.HA547b11: pl., convolutions of the bowels, Id.PA 675b24: sg., colon, ib.675b20; also of the ear, Id.de An.420a13, Ruf. Onom.44.
V. spiral running round a staff, Ael.VH9.11, Ath. 12.543f; on a child's ball, A.R.3.139; spiral strip folded round the scytale, Plu.Lys.19.
2. Geom., spiral, Epicur.Ep.2p.40U., Hermesian. 7.86; περὶ ἑλίκων, title of work by Archim.; also,= κύκλος, Hsch.
b. of planets' orbit, Eudox.Ars5.3, Theo Sm.p.201 H.; but also of the sun's and moon's orbits, Eudox.Ars9.2.
3. helix, screw-windlass, employed in launching ships, invented by Archimedes, Moschioap.Ath.5.207b.
4. treadmill used to raise water, Ph.1.410.
VI. pl., involved sentences, D.H.Th.48.
VII. Adj. winding, “ὁ ῥοῦς φέρεται ἕλικα πορείαν” Dion.Byz.3.
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

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  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (12):
    • Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, 1083
    • Aristophanes, Frogs, 1321
    • Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae, 1000
    • Euripides, Helen, 1331
    • Euripides, Heracles, 399
    • Homer, Iliad, 18.401
    • Homeric Hymns, Hymn 5 to Aphrodite, 87
    • Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1.438
    • Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 3.139
    • Plutarch, Lysander, 19
    • Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De Thucydide, 48
    • Aelian, Varia Historia, 9.11
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