lotus-eater

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   in Greek mythology, one of a people whose lotus fruit made visitors forget their homes and lose the desire to leave

   In the Odyssey, a lotus-eater offers the sailors fruit that makes them forget their journey home.

2. 2
   noun

   figurative: a person absorbed in idle, dreamy pleasure and indifferent to practical concerns

   He spent the summer as a lotus-eater, avoiding every deadline and responsibility.

A calque of Ancient Greek Lotophagos ("lotus-eater"), from lotos ("lotus") + -phagos ("eating"). Homer's Odyssey, Book IX, describes the Lotus-eaters and the fruit that made sailors forget their wish to return home.

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