Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Cupid

Definition: Cupid

Cupid

Noun

1. (Roman mythology) god of love; counterpart of Greek Eros.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

"Cupid" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "a desire".

Date "Cupid" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)


Specialty Definition: Cupid

DomainDefinition

Satire

CUPID, n. The so-called god of love. This bastard creation of a barbarous fancy was no doubt inflicted upon mythology for the sins of its deities. Of all unbeautiful and inappropriate conceptions this is the most reasonless and offensive. The notion of symbolizing sexual love by a semisexless babe, and comparing the pains of passion to the wounds of an arrow -- of introducing this pudgy homunculus into art grossly to materialize the subtle spirit and suggestion of the work -- this is eminently worthy of the age that, giving it birth, laid it on the doorstep of prosperity. Source: Devil's Dictionary.

Computing

CUPID A graphic query language. ["CUPID: A Graphic Oriented Facility for Support of Nonprogrammer Interactions with a Database", N. McDonald, PhD Thesis, CS Dept, UC Berkeley 1975]. Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.

19th Century Satire

A driver of sharp darts.
The son of Venus and the God of Love, who with bow and arrows punctured men's bosoms with the darts of admiration. But now-a-days the arrow's not in it with a snug bathing suit or a decollette gown. Source: Foolish Dictionary, 1904.

Biographical Satire

CUPID, Daniel, a cute little fat fellow who called on every one at least once. Born shortly after Adam, and is still up to mischievous tricks. It was he who made kings fall in love with poor country girls; chauffeurs with their ladies, and beggars with princesses. C. held all men and women equal provided they were good, and he made the happiest people on earth when they listened to his voice. He witnessed several international engagements, but did not like them, as the contestants gave him a black eye. He also was responsible for mothers-in-law. Some roads he made very rough, but C. always was a good guide. At times he caused pain, but he said it never was his fault. When C. stayed in a house the sun was always shining. You should be at home when he calls. Ambition: That sigh. Recreation: Archery. Address: Perhaps you know. Clubs: None. He prefers the fireside and moonlight nights. Source: Who was Who: 5000BC - 1914.

Literature

Cupid The god of love, and son of Venus. According to fable he wets with blood the grindstone on which he sharpens his arrows.
"Ferus et Cupido
Semper ardentes acuens sagittas.'
Horace: 2 Odes, viii. 14, 15.
The best statues of this little god are "Cupid Sleeping," in Albano (Rome); "Cupid playing with a Swan," in the Capitol: "Cupid mounted on a Tiger," (Negroni); and "Cupid stringing his Bow," in the Louvre (Paris). Raphael's painting of Cupid is in the Farnesina (Rome). Source: Brewer's Dictionary.

Slang in 1811

CUPID, BLIND CUPID. A jeering name for an ugly blind man: Cupid, the god of love, being frequently painted blind. See BLIND CUPID. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Cupid

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Cupid was the ancient Roman god of love, the son of Venus and Mars, associated with the Greek god Eros, which see for more details. He was generally considered beneficent, but there are many stories centered around his penchant for mischievous matchmaking.

See also: Greek mythology, Roman mythology and Eros (god).

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Cupid."

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Synonym: Cupid

Synonym: Amor (n). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Cupid

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Beauty

Venus, Aphrodite, Hebe, the Graces, Peri, Houri, Cupid, Apollo, Hyperion, Adonis, Antionous, Narcissus.

Love

Cupid, Venus; myrtle; true lover's knot; love token, love suit, love affair, love tale, love story; the, old story, plighted love; courtship; amourette; free love.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Cupid

English words defined with "Cupid": ErosLove godpsycheThe god of love. (references)
Specialty definitions using "Cupid": Adam CupidBLIND CUPID, Bowyer GodCampaspe, Cordelia's GiftFORMAGodsHeart's EaseMirrors. (references)
Non-English Usage: "Cupid" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses.

Romanian (avaricious).

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Modern Usage: Cupid

DomainUsage

Screenplays

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen! (Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town; writing credit: Romeo Muller)

Lyrics

Stupid Cupid keeps on calling me (Fastlove; performing artist: George Michael)

Cupid please take your aim at me (Cherish; performing artist: Madonna)

Cupid by the hour sends (Wishing Well (A Tone Poem); performing artist: Terence Trent D'arby)

Cupid, don't draw back your bow (Sleepwalker; performing artist: The Wallflowers)

Movie/TV Titles

Operation Cupid (1960)

Cupid Goes Nuts (1947)

Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid (1944)

The Stupid Cupid (1944)

Blondie Plays Cupid (1940)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Cupid

DomainTitle

Books

  • Letters to Cupid (Ag Fiction (American Girl)) (reference)

  • Cupid : The Amorous Arrow (reference)

  • Bye, Bye Bachelorhood/Coaxing Cupid (Duets, 63) (reference)

  • The Darts of Cupid and Other Stories (reference)

  • Cupid : The Bewildering Bequest (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Theater & Movies

  

Music

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Cupid

Illustrations:
Cupid

More pictures...

Computer Images:
Cupid

More pictures...

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Photo Album: Cupid

ThumbnailDescription & CreditThumbnailDescription & Credit

Seated female figure with mirror adjusting her dress while a winged hand maiden attends to her hair ; Female figure seated in klismos chair while figure of Eros or Cupid, assisted by hand maiden, washes her feet. Credit: Library of Congress.

Cupid Childs. Credit: Library of Congress.

While Cupid waits. Credit: Library of Congress.

Reed as Cupid. Credit: Library of Congress.

The story of Cupid and Psyche: Psyche spying on Cupid. Credit: Library of Congress.

Cupid and Psyche. Credit: Library of Congress.

Venus and Cupid. Credit: Library of Congress.

Interior with painting of nude woman and cupid, over fireplace, French provincial furniture, and heavily draped windows at left, in home of Edmund Cogswell Converse, Greenwich, Connecticut. Credit: Library of Congress.

Cupid and the cop. Credit: Library of Congress.

Can love be controul'd by advice? Will Cupid our mothers obey?. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Familiar Quotations: Cupid

AuthorQuotation

Ovid

Every lover is a warrior, and Cupid has his camps.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Use in Literature: Cupid

TitleAuthorQuote

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

Methuselah is a (r)gamin beside Cupid.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Cupid

SubjectTopicQuote

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

FORMA :PAUPERIS:. [Latin] In the character of a poor person -- a method by which a litigant without money for lawyers is considerately permitted to lose his case. When Adam long ago in Cupid's awful court (For Cupid ruled ere Adam was invented) Sued for Eve's favor, says an ancient law report, He stood and pleaded unhabilimented. "You sue in forma pauperis, I see," Eve cried; "Actions can't here be that way prosecuted." So all poor Adam's motions coldly were denied: He went away -- as he had come -- nonsuited. G.J.

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Cupid

"Cupid" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 64.86% of the time. "Cupid" is used about 74 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Noun (proper)64.86%4849,194
Adjective (general or positive)32.43%2471,196
Noun (singular)2.7%2245,945
                    Total100.00%74N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Cupid

Expression using "Cupid": the shafts of cupid. Additional references.

Hyphenated Usage

Beginning with "Cupid": cupid-bow, cupid-woven.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Cupid

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

cupid

1,463

by cupid shot

17

cupid junction

677

cupid mythology

15

112 cupid lyrics

79

cupid lyrics mandy moore stupid

14

cupid picture

79

cupid personals

13

stupid cupid

78

cupid lisa shannon

13

cupid lyrics stupid

75

boss cupid

13

com cupid

74

cupid connection

13

cupid psyche

61

112 by cupid lyrics

12

cupid junction.com

57

cupid pic

12

112 cupid

40

cupid juction

11

cupid greek

40

cupid god of love

11

usa cupid

38

cupid mandy moore stupid

11

cam cupid

37

adultfriendfinder.com cupid

9

cupid tv show

31

single cupid

9

cupid lyrics

30

date cupid

8

cupid dating

27

cupid simon

8

cbs cupid

23

cupid god

8

cowell cupid simon

22

cupid greek mythology

8

cupid image

20

cartoon of cupid

7

cupid clipart

17

de cupid

7
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Cupid

Language Translations for "Cupid"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Afrikaans

  

Amor. (various references)

   

Albanian

  

Perëndi E Dashurisë. (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏كيوبيد إله الحب بإغريق, ‏صورة كيوبيد. (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

Купидонче, Купидон. (various references)

   

Czech

  

Kupid, Amor. (various references)

   

Dutch

  

Cupido (Eros), Amor (Eros). (various references)

   

Esperanto

  

Amoro (Eros). (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

کوپید(افسانه یونان), خدای عشق که بصورت کودک برهنه مجسم شده . (various references)

   

French

  

Cupidon. (various references)

   

German

  

Amor (love, sexual love). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

έρωσ (courtship, Eros, love), έρωτασ (Eros, love). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

ׁמל ִא"ב". (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

cupido, Ámor. (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

dewi asmara, dewa asmara. (various references)

   

Italian

  

Cupido (avid). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

結びの神 , 月下氷人 (go-between, matchmaker), キャンプ村 (campaign, campaign sale, campsite, Canberra, Canon, Cuba, Cuban heel, cubic, cubic type, cubism, cue, culotte, culotte skirt, curacao, curator, cure, curie, curiosity, curium, cute, cuticle, cuticle cream, cuticle remover, cutie, killer, killer dust, kiosk, queue). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

キュー"ッド , むすびのかみ, 'っかひょうじ" (go-between, matchmaker). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

upidcay

   

Portuguese

  

Cupido (love, love-god). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

Cupidon, Arghirofil (grasping, lover of money, money grubber, rapacious, usurer), Amoraş (amor), Amor (love, love affair, love making). (various references)

   

Russian 

  

Купидон, Амур (Amur). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

kupid. (various references)

   

Spanish

  

Cupido, Dios Del Amor. (various references)

   

Swedish

  

Amorin. (various references)

   

Turkish

  

Aşk Tanrısı (Eros). (various references)

   

Ukrainian

  

Купідон. (various references)

   

Vietnamese 

  

tượng thần ái tình. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Cupid

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Latin500 BCE-Modern

Amor, cupidinis, cupido. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Cupid

Derivations

Words beginning with "Cupid": cupidities, cupidity, cupids. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Cupid" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Ccpit, Cepad, cidip, coppid, cpim, cpio, cuid, Cumplido, cupa, cuped, cupi, cupido, cupie, cupin, cupio, cuppam, cuppy, cupu, iupd, Mcquoid, ocupyd, pupid, qupid, Uchupi, ucid, Ucip. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Cupid"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "Cupid" (pronounced kyuw"pud)
4-uw" p u dstupid.
3-p u dbicuspid, intrepid, lipid, rapid, tepid, torpid, tricuspid, vapid.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Cupid

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: pudic.

Words within the letters "c-d-i-p-u"

-1 letter: duci.

-2 letters: cud, cup, dip, dui, dup, pic, piu, pud.

-3 letters: id, pi, up.

 Words containing the letters "c-d-i-p-u"
 

+1 letter: cupids, cuspid.

 

+2 letters: clupeid, cuspids, duckpin, pumiced.

 

+3 letters: bicuspid, clupeids, clupeoid, cupidity, cuspidal, cuspides, cuspidor, duckpins, hiccuped, occupied, pedicure, pellucid, pictured, pulicide, punditic, unpicked, unpriced, upcoiled.

 

+4 letters: bicuspids, chirruped, clupeoids, cuspidate, cuspidors, decupling, duplicate, duplicity, epicedium, hiccupped, impudence, insculped, outpriced, pedicured, pedicures, poulticed, prejudice, producing, pudencies, pulicides, pycnidium, tricuspid, unclipped, unpoliced, upclimbed.

 

+5 letters: capsulized, compendium, copurified, cupidities, decoupling, diplodocus, duplicated, duplicates, duplicator, epicardium, imprudence, impudences, impudicity, inculpated, lycopodium, mudcapping, outpitched, pediculate, pediculous, pedicuring, pedicurist, pellucidly, picturized, precluding, predacious, prejudiced, prejudices, producible, production, productive, publicised, publicized, quadriceps, reoccupied, tricuspids, uncrippled, underprice, unoccupied, unpedantic, unscripted.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage: Modern
5. Usage: Commercial
6. Images: Slideshow
7. Images: Photo Album
8. Quotations: Familiar
9. Quotations: Fiction
10. Quotations: Non-fiction
11. Usage Frequency
12. Expressions
13. Expressions: Internet
14. Translations: Modern
15. Translations: Ancient
16. Derivations
17. Rhymes
18. Anagrams
19. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.