• Lotus-eater

    Alternative forms

    Full definition of lotus-eater

    Noun

    lotus-eater

    (plural lotus-eaters)
    1. (Greek mythology) A member of the legendary people living on an island dominated by the lotus tree, who have forgotten their homes due to the fruits' narcotic and stupefying effect.
    2. (figuratively) Someone with an carefree, idyllic life.
      • Butler Way of All Flesh|chapter=LXXX|page=367|passage=I remember being ill once in a foreign hotel myself and how much I enjoyed it. To lie there careless of everything, quiet and warm, and with no weight upon the mind, to hear the clinking of the plates in the far-off kitchen as the scullion rinsed them and put them by; to watch the soft shadows come and go upon the ceiling as the sun came out or went behind a cloud; to listen to the pleasant murmuring of the fountain in the court below, and the shaking of the bells on the horses’ collars and the clink of their hoofs upon the ground as the flies plagued them; not only to be a lotus-eater but to know that it was one’s duty to be a lotus-eater.
      • 1974, John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, chapter 32"You're a lucky man, Jim," he kept saying. "You've been ordered to become a lotus-eater."

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