Meaning
I'RIS, n. plu. irises. [L. iris, iridis, the rainbow.]
1. The rainbow.
2. An appearance resembling the rainbow.
3. The colored circle which surrounds the pupil of the eye, by means of which that opening is enlarged and diminished.
4. The changeable colors which sometimes appear in the glasses of telescopes, microscopes, _c.
5. A colored spectrum which a triangular glass prism casts on a wall, when placed at a due angle in the sun-beams.
6. The flower-de-lis, or flag-=flower, a genus of many species.
