[Gr. pr. name.]
1. In Greek and Latin mythology the name of the ferryman who conveyed the shades of the departed across the Styx; often used allusively.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. v. 63. Ȝon grislie ferriar to naim Charon hait.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 41. Which damp holes breathing out a deadly aire some call Charoneæ Scrobes, i. Charons ditches.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., III. ii. 11. O be my Charon, And giue me swift transportance to those fields, Where I may wallow in the Lilly beds Propos’d for the deseruer.
1616. J. Lane, Sqrs. Tale, IX. 304. Yowr lives for him shall goe to Carons ferrie.
1822. Byron, Vis. Judgm., lxxii. The other side Of Charon’s ferry.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, iii. Wks. (Bohn), I. 329. This Charon ferries them all over in his boat … and all gather one grimness of hue and style.
2. Ferry-man. (humorous.)
1861. E. B. Ramsay, Remin., iv. (ed. 18), 72. He had acted as Charon of the Dee at Banchory.
1873. Tristram, Moab, xviii. 361. The gentlemanly-looking Charon, whose negro slaves work the boat.
Hence Charonic a.
1816. G. S. Faber, Orig. Pag. Idol., I. 359. The brethren of this Charonic society.
