cyclops Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun (Greek mythology) one of a race of giants having a single eye in the middle of their forehead
  2. noun minute free-swimming freshwater copepod having a large median eye and pear-shaped body and long antennae used in swimming; important in some food chains and as intermediate hosts of parasitic worms that affect man e.g. Guinea worms
    water flea.

WordNet

Cy"clops noun singular & plural
Etymology
L. Cyclops, Gr. (strictly round-eyed), pl. circle + eye.
Definitions
  1. (Gr. Myth.) One of a race of giants, sons of Neptune and Amphitrite, having but one eye, and that in the middle of the forehead. They were fabled to inhabit Sicily, and to assist in the workshops of Vulcan, under Mt. Etna. ✍ Pope, in his translation of the "Odyssey," uniformly spells this word Cyclop, when used in the singular.
  2. (Zoöl.) A genus of minute Entomostraca, found both in fresh and salt water. See Copepoda.
  3. A portable forge, used by tinkers, etc.

Webster 1913