caducean

English

Adjective

caducean (comparative more caducean, superlative most caducean)

1. Of or relating to the caduceus, Mercury's wand, and symbol of medicine.
   • 1997, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, ‎Stuart Curran, Valperga, Or, The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca, page 413:

     The scene was unchanged; and even in winter the soul of beauty hovered over it, ready again to reanimate the corpse, when the caducean wand of spring should touch it.

   • 2015, Jonathan Bayliss, Gloucesterbook:

     He loved "Simplicissimus" as his nom de main—often simplified to S-s or simply s, which he called The Snake, the savior of woman: his caducean sign of a mental health and guilelessness somewhat inconsonant with his equally sincere claim to be "the Hermes of good news who teaches knowledge of good and evil!"

   • 2016, Simon Locke, Re-crafting Rationalization, page 119:

     This is apparent in her relationship with the caducean snakes, Mack and Mike ( 'macrocosm' and 'microcosm' respectively ) in which she takes the role of disciple to their teacher as her journey unfolds.

   • 2019, Laurinda Dixon, Nicolas Flamel:

     In fact, this hieroglypic was eliminated from Salmon's editions, which substituted a caducean image of two serpents devouring each other (illustrated sixth from the left in Salmon's diagram, fig. 2) for the original virgin-dragon picture.