Cy'clops, n. sing. & pl.
n. sing. & pl. [Gr. Κύκλωψ (strictly round-eyed), pl. Κύκλωπες, from κύκλος, circle, and ὤψ, eye.]
Sense 1. (Gr. Myth.) A class of giants, sons of Neptune and Amphitrite, who had but one eye, and that in the middle of the forehead. They were said to inhabit Sicily, and to be assistants in the workshops of Vulcan, fabled to be under Mt. Etna.
Sense 2. A family of minute crustacea of the order Entomostraca, found both in fresh and salt water. They are so abundant in some parts of the ocean as to afford food for the whalebone whale, and give a reddish tint to the waters. These animals were so named because the two eyes form a single minute spot on the center of the head, and till lately they were supposed to have but one eye. Dame.
— Pope, in his translation of the Odyssey, uniformly spells this word cyclop, when used in the singular number.
