Memphian

comparative more Memphian · superlative most Memphian

1. Of or relating to the ancient city of Memphis in Egypt.

   Memphian darkness

   2 more examples

   Now may we ſee Damaſcus lofty towers, Like to the ſhadowes of Pyramides, That with their beauties grac’d the Memphion fields: […]

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act IIII, scene ii

   Nor is Oſiris ſeen In Memphian Grove, or Green, Trampling the unſhowr’d Graſſe with lowings loud: […]

   1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, stanza XXIV, page 11

   Synonyms: Memphite, Memphitic

2. Of or relating to the city of Memphis in the US, or another city named Memphis.

   Synonyms: Memphibian

plural Memphians

1. A native or inhabitant of the ancient city of Memphis in Egypt.

   One, in few howers, a fearfull ſlaughter made / Of all the Firſt-born that the Memphians had; […]

   1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His First Week, or Birth of the World: […].] The First Daie of the First Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 21

   2 more examples

   Tranced in her Lord’s Olympian smile / His lotus-loving Memphian lies,— / The musky daughter of the Nile / With plaited hair and almond eyes.

   1857–1858, Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr.], “VII. Poem “The Last Blossom”.”, in The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson and Company, published 1858, →OCLC, page 187

   A few moments later we were standing before the Sphinx. In front of this gigantic statue the sand has been excavated, and the paws, brick-built, have been laid bare. Here an altar once stood, and hither we clambered down, and looked up sixty feet at the gigantic scarred face. What name had they of yore for this divinity, those ancient Memphians?

   1892, Clinton Scollard, “Round about Cairo”, in Under Summer Skies, New York, N.Y.: Charles L[uther] Webster & Company, pages 61–62

   Synonyms: Memphite

2. A native or inhabitant of the city of Memphis in the US, or another city named Memphis.

   Further, this socialization implores black Memphians to strive to challenge the increasingly complex structural inequalities of race and class in the post–civil rights era.

   2014 April 15, Zandria F[elice] Robinson, “Post-Soul Blues”, in This Ain’t Chicago: Race, Class, and Regional Identity in the Post-Soul South, Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 78

   2 more examples

   A soft summer downpour greeted the crowd arriving for Memphis Night, with 100 Memphians on hand to holler for their girls, the first of whom was Ruth Welting in the same kind of innocent cotton dress a girl might wear to a dancer at home.

   1977 August 8, Henry Mitchell, “The Night Of the Memphis Sopranos”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Nov 2024

   As Memphians' hearts broke, millions of Americans watched on television when Bill Walton sprained his ankle […] Larry Finch thanked his fellow Memphians “for making us proud to know that we had more people pulling for us[…]"

   2014 March 18, G. Wayne Dowdy, On This Day in Memphis History, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 26

   Synonyms: Memphibian