clepsydra

English

Alternative forms

• klepsydra, klepsudra

Etymology

From Latin clepsydra, from Ancient Greek κλεψύδρα (klepsúdra), from κλέπτειν (kléptein, “to steal”) + ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: klĕp'sĭdrə, IPA^(key): /ˈklɛpsɪdɹə/

Noun

clepsydra (plural clepsydras or clepsydrae)

1. Synonym of water clock, especially (historical) ancient Greek and Roman forms.
   • 1953, John Wyndham, The Kraken Wakes, page 124:

     "The dull, unflavoured drops from life's clepsydra".

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 856:

     They sat among the choiring clepsydras of the evening garden, time elapsing in a dozen ways, allowing their cigars to go out, keeping a companionable silence.

Anagrams

• CD players

Latin

Alternative forms

• clipsadra (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κλεψύδρα (klepsúdra, “pipette, water clock”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈklep.sy.dra/, [ˈkɫ̪ɛps̠ʏd̪rä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈklep.si.dra/, [ˈklɛpsid̪rä]

Noun

clepsydra f (genitive clepsydrae); first declension

1. water clock, clepsydra

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	clepsydra	clepsydrae
Genitive	clepsydrae	clepsydrārum
Dative	clepsydrae	clepsydrīs
Accusative	clepsydram	clepsydrās
Ablative	clepsydrā	clepsydrīs
Vocative	clepsydra	clepsydrae

Descendants

• English: clepsydra

• Italian: clessidra

References

• “clepsydra”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “clepsydra”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• clepsydra in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• clepsydra in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “clepsydra”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[1]
• “clepsydra”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “clepsydra”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin