Etymology From Old English and Old French fenix, from Medieval Latin phenix, from Latin phoenīx, from Ancient Greek φοῖνιξ (phoînix), from Egyptian b-n:nw*w-G31 (boinu, “grey heron”). Doublet of Bennu. The grey heron was venerated at Heliopolis and associated in Egypt with the cyclical renewal of life because the bird rises in flight at dawn and migrates back every year in the flood season to inhabit the Nile waters.
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Human sciences, Mysticism, Mythology, Philosophy, Sciences 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 blood1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 19”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
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Figuratively Anything 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.1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 17:
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Many of the legitimate nightclubs of today sprang like legalized phoenixes from the still-hot ashes of the speakeasies of prohibition days.1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 90:
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Human sciences, Mysticism, Mythology, Philosophy, SciencesChinese A mythological Chinese chimerical bird whose physical body symbolizes the six celestial bodies; a fenghuang.
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Historical A 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.2019, Roderick Beaton, Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation, Penguin, published 2020, page 116:
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.1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LVIII, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book VI, page 282:
Etymology From Old English and Old French fenix, from Medieval Latin phenix, from Latin phoenīx, from Ancient Greek φοῖνιξ (phoînix), from Egyptian b-n:nw*w-G31 (boinu, “grey heron”). Doublet of Bennu. The grey heron was venerated at Heliopolis and associated in Egypt with the cyclical renewal of life because the bird rises in flight at dawn and migrates back every year in the flood season to inhabit the Nile waters.
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Australia 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.2019 December 17, Noel Gladstone, Carrie Fellner, “Small business flattened by 'dodgy' builders in phoenixing epidemic”, in The Sydney Morning Herald:
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.2020 September 24, Anne Davies, “Phoenixing: how unscrupulous dealers rise debt-free from the ashes of failed companies”, in The Sydney Morning Herald:
Phoenix
noun
Etymology From Latin phoenīx, Phoenīx, from Ancient Greek φοῖνῐξ (phoînĭx), Φοῖνῐξ (Phoînĭx).
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A German breed of long-tailed chicken.
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A geometer moth of species Eulithis prunata.
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A white variety of grape of German origin used for winemaking.