canephor

Variant of canephoros

noun pl. canephoroe

  1. in ancient Greece, any of the maidens who carried on her head a basket holding the sacred things used at feasts
  2. Archit. a representation of this, sometimes used as a caryatid

Origin: L < Gr kanēphoros < kaneon, a rush basket (< kanna: see cane) + pherein, bear

Also canephor
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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