Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Procrustes"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Procrustes \Pro*crus"tes\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to beat out,
to stretch; ? forward + ? to strike.] (Gr. Antiq.)
A celebrated legendary highwayman of Attica, who tied his
victims upon an iron bed, and, as the case required, either
stretched or cut of their legs to adapt them to its length;
-- whence the metaphorical phrase,
{the bed of Procrustes}.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
Procrustes
n : (Greek mythology) a mythical giant who was a thief and
murderer; he would capture people and tie them to an iron
bed, stretching them or hacking off their legs to make
them fit; was killed by Theseus [syn: {Procrustes}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.