VANESSA
\vɐnˈɛsə], \vɐnˈɛsə], \v_ɐ_n_ˈɛ_s_ə]\
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Any one of numerous species of handsomely colored butterflies belonging to Vanessa and allied genera. Many of these species have the edges of the wings irregularly scalloped.
By Oddity Software
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i.e. Phanessa (from Phanes, a mystic divinity in the Orphic rites, known also as Eros). (Entom.) Gen. of butterfly, brightly coloured ; as the Peacock B. Fam. Nymphalidae.
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So styled by Dean Swift, who exerted a kind of enchantment over her as he had clone over Stella ; Hester Vanhomrigh, the daughter of a London merchant, who died of a broken heart, 1723. See Stella.
By Henry Percy Smith