phoenix

noun

1. 1

   A mythological bird, said to be the only one of its kind, which lives for 500 years and then dies by burning to ashes on a pyre of its own making, ignited by the sun. It then arises anew from the ashes.

   burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood

2. 2

   figurativeAnything that is reborn after apparently being destroyed.

   Astronomers believe planets might form in this dead star's disk, like the mythical Phoenix rising up out of the ashes.

   Lord Allerton was that modern phœnix, a young man, without a single objection.

   Many of the legitimate nightclubs of today sprang like legalized phoenixes from the still-hot ashes of the speakeasies of prohibition days.

3. 3

   A mythological Chinese chimerical bird whose physical body symbolizes the six celestial bodies; a fenghuang.

4. 4

   historicalA Greek silver coin used briefly from 1828 to 1832, divided into 100 lepta.

   The national currency, the phoenix, which had been established by Kapodistrias, was renamed after an ancient Greek coin, the drachma.

5. 5

   obsoleteA marvelous person or thing.

   He may not be a phœnix of cleverness in your sense; his profession is different; but it would be all the better for you to talk a little on his subjects.

6. 6

   A geometer moth of species Eulithis prunata.

verb

1. 1

   To transfer assets from one company to another to dodge liability

   Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association CEO John Winter said phoenixing has been "endemic" for decades.

   The ATO defines iIllegal^([sic – meaning illegal]) phoenixing as when a new company is created to continue the business of a company that has been deliberately liquidated to avoid paying its debts, including taxes, creditors and employee entitlements.

Forms

plural

phoenixes, phoenices

past tense

phoenixed

past participle

phoenixed

present participle

phoenixing

third person singular

phoenixes