Dictionary entry

G00956

An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon Keyed to Strong's Numbers

βέλος

Etym. βάλλω, as Lat. jaculum from "jacio"

1. "a missile", esp. "an arrow, dart, bolt", Hom.; of the rock "hurled" by the Cyclops, Od.; of the ox's leg "thrown" at Ulysses, id=Od.; ὑπὲκ βελέων out "of the reach of darts", out "of shot", Il.; so ἔξω βελῶν Xen.

2. like ἔγχος, used of "any weapon", as "a sword", Ar.: "an axe", Eur.

3. the ἀγανὰ βέλεα of Apollo and Artemis in Hom. always denote "the sudden, easy death" of men and women respectively.

4. after Hom. of "anything swift-darting", Ζηνὸς βέλη "the bolts" of Zeus, thunderbolts, Aesch.; πύρπνουν β. id=Aesch.; βέλη πάγων the piercing frosts, Soph.:—metaph., ὀμμάτων βέλος the "glance" of the eye, Aesch.; ἱμέρου βέλος the "shaft" of love, id=Aesch.; of arguments, πᾶν τετόξευται βέλος id=Aesch.