Phä'e-tŏn, n.

n. [Lat. Phaethon, Gr. φαέθων, from φαέθειν, φαειν, φαίνειν, to shine; Fr. Phaéthon.]

1. (Myth.) The son of Phœbus and Clymene, or of Cephalus and Aurora, that is, the son of light, or of the sun. He is fabled to have begged of Phœbus that he would permit him to guide the chariot of the sun, in doing which he manifested want of skill, and being struck with a thunderbolt by Jupiter, he was hurled headlong into the River Po.
2. An open carriage like a chaise, on four wheels, and drawn by two horses.
3. (Ornith.) A genus of oceanic birds generally met with far out at sea, flying very high, and with great rapidity; the tropic bird. Baird.