isis

plural isises

1. biologyAny coral of the genus Isis, or family Isididae, composed of joints of white, stony coral, alternating with flexible, horny joints.

   […] the numerous families of coral, which, under the form of tubular, starry, or stony stems, are denominated tubipores, madrepores, and isises.

   1834, John Mason Good, The Book of Nature

1. Egyptianhuman sciencesAn ancient Egyptian goddess, the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, worshiped as the ideal mother and wife and as the matron of nature and magic; also worshiped by (some) Greeks during the Hellenistic period and featured in Greek mythology, and by Romans involved in what was categorized as the Cult of Isis.

   Grant me profane kiss / Oh Isis, mother ov all / Thy lips like morphine / Teasing my slumbering heart

   2009, “Defiling Morality ov Black God”, in Evangelion, performed by Behemoth

2. astronomy42 Isis, a main belt asteroid.

   Synonyms: 42 Isis, ㊷

3. uncommonA female given name from Egyptian or Ancient Greek.

   Isis had crawled under the center table with its red plush cover with little round balls for fringe.

   1924, Zora Neale Hurston, Drenched in Light

   1 more example

   'Beloved Isis,' Elias grinned, 'would you kindly cast some light into the poor occluded mind of our brother here on the matter of the co-essential nature of the body and the soul?'

   1995, Iain Banks, Whit

1. UKespecially Oxfordshire; otherwise dated; especially Oxfordshire; otherwise datedThe River Thames between its source and its confluence with the River Thame at Dorchester on Thames.

   They had put in under the dappled shade of an overhanging willow a little down the left bank of the Isis.

   1935, Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night

   1 more example

   Dorchester is not on the Thames, yet belongs to it certainly, for the Thame, which combines with the Isis to form the Thames, flows past it.

   1906, Geraldine Mitton, chapter IV, in The Thames, London: A. & C. Black

1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of HM Prison Isis.

1. Alternative letter-case form of ISIS.

   The terrorist threat is growing, the politicians and intelligence services say, due in part to the degradation of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and the rising numbers of Isis fighters returning to Europe.

   2017 August 20, “The Observer view on the attacks in Spain”, in The Observer

alternative Isis · alternative Islamic State of Iraq and Syria · alternative Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

1. A Salafist group mainly active in Iraq and Syria, where it has proclaimed itself as a (unrecognized) state and later caliphate.First known use 2013

   Synonyms: Daesh, ISIL, IS, Islamic State

2. InternetabbreviationhumorousinitialismInitialism of Israeli Secret Intelligence Services (“a pun on the Salafist group”)

   Terror groups linked to al Qaeda and ISIS have been active in Niger for years.

   2023 March 20, Kylie Atwood, “American citizen held hostage for 6 years in West Africa has been freed”, in CNN

   2 more examples

   They didn't know the room was too big, because they didn't have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS? I don't think it's gonna happen.

   2015 June 16, Donald Trump, “Transcript: Donald Trump announces his presidential candidacy”, in CBS News

   Despite territorial defeats in Iraq and Syria, ISIS continues to draw support from HVEs in the United States and the group’s global calls for attacks have intensified since the death last year of senior leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

   2020 October 28, “Homeland Threat Assessment”, in Department of Homeland Security, page 19

3. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of Institute for Science and International Security.