ˈhipəˌkrēn, ˌ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ˈkrēnē noun
( -s )
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: from Hippocrene, a fountain in ancient Greece that was fabled to have burst forth when the ground was struck by the hoof of the winged horse Pegasus and that was supposed to be a source of poetic inspiration, from Latin, from Greek Hippokrēnē, from hippo- hipp- + krēnē fountain
: poetic inspiration
we shrink from a cup of the purest Hippocrene after the critics' solar microscope — J.R.Lowell
a loiterer by the waves of Hippocrene — O.W.Holmes †1894