Iris

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The goddess of the rainbow, and swift-footed messenger of the gods. Shak.

2. The rainbow. Sir T. Browne.

3. An appearance resembling the rainbow; a prismatic play of colors. Tennyson.

4. The contractile membrane perforated by the pupil, and forming the colored portion of the eye. See Eye.

5. A genus of plants having showy flowers and bulbous or tuberous roots, of which the flower-de-luce (fleur-de-lis), orris, and other species of flag are examples. See Illust. of Flower-de-luce.

6. See Fleur-de-lis, 2.