Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for I'RIS
I'RIS, n. [plur. Irises. L. iris, iridis, the rain bow, Gr. ιρις.]
- The rainbow. Brown.
- An appearance resembling the rainbow. Newton.
- The colored circle which surrounds the pupil of the eye, by means of which that opening is enlarged and diminished.
- The changeable colors which sometimes appear in the glasses of telescopes, microscopes, &c.
- A colored spectrum which a triangular glass prism casts on a wall, when placed at a due angle in the sun-beams.
- The flower-de-lis, or flag-flower, a genus of many species.
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