isis

Noun

isis (plural isises)

1. Any 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

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Isis

Isis

1. (Egyptian) An 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 heart2009, “Defiling Morality ov Black God”, in Evangelion, performed by Behemoth
2. 42 Isis, a main belt asteroid.

   Synonyms:

   42 Isis, ㊷

3. (uncommon) A 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
   • '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

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Isis

the Isis

1. (UK, especially Oxfordshire, otherwise dated) The River Thames between its source and its confluence with the River Thame at Dorchester on Thames.
   • 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
   • 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

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Isis

Isis

1. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of HM Prison Isis.

Proper noun (4) capitalized: Isis

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

Proper noun (5) capitalized: ISIS

IPA/ˈaɪsɪs/

ISIS

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

   Synonyms:

   Daesh, ISIL, IS, Islamic State

2. (Internet, abbreviation, humorous, initialism) Initialism of Israeli Secret Intelligence Services (“a pun on the Salafist group”)
   • 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, “Homeland Threat Assessment”, in Department of Homeland Security, page 19
3. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Institute for Science and International Security.