[ad. L. Argonauta, ad. Gr. Ἀργοναύτης a sailor in the ship Argo.]
1. One of the legendary heroes who accompanied Jason in the Argo in his quest of the Golden Fleece.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., IV. i. 23. The dreadfull discord, which did drive The noble Argonauts to outrage fell.
1846. Grote, Greece, I. xiii. (1869), I. 231. The Argonauts again owed their safety to the stratagem of Medea.
2. Name of a genus of cephalopod mollusks of the octopod type, esp. of the species which, from the delicacy and whiteness of its shell, is also known as the ‘paper nautilus,’ and was formerly believed to sail on the surface of the sea.
1835. Kirby, Hab. & Inst. Anim., I. x. 306. The Argonaut, or paper nautilus.
1847. Carpenter, Zool., § 891. By the action of the arms, the Argonaut can swim backwards in the same manner as other Octopi.
