Icarus

[ik-er-uhs, ahy-ker-]

noun

1. Classical Mythology.,  Also Ikaros a youth who attempted to escape from Crete with wings of wax and feathers but flew so high that his wings melted from the heat of the sun, and he plunged to his death in the sea.

2. Astronomy.,  an asteroid whose eccentric orbit brings it closer to the sun than any other known asteroid.

Icarus

/ ˈaɪ-, ˈɪkərəs /

noun

1. Greek myth the son of Daedalus, with whom he escaped from Crete, flying with wings made of wax and feathers. Heedless of his father's warning he flew too near the sun, causing the wax to melt, and fell into the Aegean and drowned

Icarus

1. A small asteroid with a highly eccentric, Earth-crossing orbit that takes it to within 30 million km (19 million mi) of the Sun, or closer than the planet Mercury. In 1968 Icarus approached within 6 million km (4 million mi) of the Earth.

2. See more at asteroid

Icarus

1. In classical mythology, the son of Daedalus. Icarus died tragically while using artificial wings, invented by his father, to escape from the Labyrinth. When Icarus flew too close to the sun, it melted the wax that held the wings together, and he fell into the sea.

Example Sentences

Like Icarus, whose wings of wax carried him too close to the sun, the U.S. economy sometimes flies so high that its wax wings melt.

From Salon

Police believe that on June 14 or 15 at least one thief made off with both “Icarus Within” and “Quantum Mechanics: Homme,” — sculptures valued at a combined $2.1 million — from a warehouse in Anaheim Hills.

From Los Angeles Times

On screen, they possessed a bewitching stillness, performing barefoot in a pair of golden feathered trousers like some sort of musical Icarus.

From BBC

Still, with Trump’s track record for leaving bodies in his wake, the higher Musk flies the more he risks being Icarus – not Trump.

From Salon

Some of the details feel marvelously resonant, especially how the off-the-clock Shelly never can scrub off every speck of glitter, or the way she keeps ripping her costume wings like some cabaret Icarus.

From Los Angeles Times