Beowulf

Proper noun

Beowulf (plural Beowulfs)

1. A renowned Old English alliterative poem, preserved in a single manuscript within the Nowell Codex, composed sometime between 975 and 1025 AD.
   • John Gardner’s retelling of Beowulf is titled Grendel.
2. (poetic) An Anglo-Saxon personal name, usually with reference to the hero of the poem, or to the poem itself.
   • Beowulf is as great a hero as Sigmund.
   • The highest rank attainable is yokozuna, or grand champion. They are the heroes of the Japanese, the Rolands, the Beowulfs, the Siegfrieds of the Cherry Blossom Empire.1965, Myra Waldo, “Japan”, in Travel Guide to the Orient and the Pacific, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Collier-Macmillan Limited, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 157