noun, plural thyr·si [thur-sahy] /ˈθɜr saɪ/.
- Botany. a thyrse.
- Greek Antiquity. a staff tipped with a pine cone and sometimes twined with ivy and vine branches, borne by Dionysus and his votaries.
noun plural -si (-saɪ)
- Greek myth a staff, usually one tipped with a pine cone, borne by Dionysus (Bacchus) and his followers
- a variant spelling of thyrse
n.1590s, from Greek thyrsos, literally “stalk or stem of a plant,” a non-Greek word of unknown origin. The staff or spear tipped with an ornament like a pine cone, and sometimes wreathed in ivy or vine branches, borne by Dionysus and his votaries.