Adonises

cl-ssical mythology. a youth slain by a wild boar but permitted by zeus to p-ss four months every year in the lower world with persephone, four with aphrodite, and four wherever he chose.
a very handsome young man.
historical examples

at least some of the delphiniums, papavers and adonises germinate very imperfectly, if at all, in direct light.
the nursery book liberty hyde bailey

adonises are very neat in habit, and the foliage is fine and interesting.
the practical garden-book c. e. hunn

a long line of more or less successful adonises have followed in his footsteps.
in vanity fair eleanor hoyt brainerd

peasants imagine themselves princes; calibans believe themselves to be adonises; beggars imagine themselves millionaires.
the confessions of a caricaturist, vol 2 (of 2) harry furniss

they are not apollos, and venuses, nor adonises, that knock at painters’ doors.
blackwood’s edinburgh magazine — volume 55, no. 340, february, 1844 various

noun
(greek myth) a handsome youth loved by aphrodite. killed by a wild boar, he was believed to spend part of the year in the underworld and part on earth, symbolizing the vegetative cycle
a handsome young man
n.

“a beau,” 1620s, from greek adonis, name of the youth beloved by aphrodite, from phoenician adon “lord,” probably originally “ruler,” from base a-d-n “to judge, rule.” adonai is the hebrew cognate.

in cl-ssical mythology, an extremely beautiful boy who was loved by aphrodite, the goddess of love.

note: by extension, an “adonis” is any handsome young man.