English

Proper noun

Argosy

1. Popular anglicism of the Argonautika of Apollonios Rhodios.
   • 1918, Christopher Morley, The Haunted Bookshop, Chapter 6:

     Roger chuckled. "I hope you don't think I'm a mere highbrow," he said. "As a customer said to me once, without meaning to be funny, `I like both the Iliad and the Argosy.' The only thing I can't stand is literature that is unfairly and intentionally flavoured with vanilla. Confectionery soon disgusts the palate, whether you find it in Marcus Aurelius or Doctor Crane.

English

Noun

argosy ‎(plural argosies)

1. A merchant ship.
2. A merchant flotilla, fleet.
   • 1594, Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew:

     Gremio, 'tis known my father hath no less Than three great argosies, besides two galliasses, And twelve tight galleys; these I will assure her, And twice as much, whate'er thou offer'st next.

3. A collection of lore.
   • 1921, Sir James George Frazer, Apollodorus: The Library (Loeb Classical Library), volume I, Introduction, § 1: “The Author and His Book”, page xxxiii:

     Yet we may be grateful to him for saving for us from the wreck of ancient literature some waifs and strays which, but for his humble labours, might have sunk irretrievably with so many golden argosies in the fathomless ocean of the past.

Translations

Anagrams

• yorgas