stentor

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person with an exceptionally loud or powerful voice

   Only a stentor could have addressed the vast crowd without amplification.

2. 2
   noun

   a large trumpet-shaped freshwater ciliate of the genus Stentor

   Under the microscope, the stentor contracted from a trumpet shape into a compact ball.

From Latin Stentor and Greek Stentor, the name of a herald in Homer's Iliad whose voice was said to equal those of fifty men. The personal name became a common noun for a loud-voiced speaker and later named the trumpet-shaped ciliate genus.

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