Definition: iris

Search dictionary for

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7 

iris
     n 1: plants with sword-shaped leaves and erect stalks bearing
          bright-colored flowers composed of three petals and
          three drooping sepals [syn: flag, fleur-de-lis, sword
          lily]
     2: muscular diaphragm that controls the size of the pupil; it
        forms the colored portion of the eye
     3: diaphragm consisting of thin overlapping plates that can be
        adjusted to change the diameter of a central opening [syn:
         iris diaphragm]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

Iris \I"ris\, n.; pl. E. Irises, L. Irides. [L. iris,
   iridis, the goddess, Gr. ?, ?, the rainbow, iris of the eye,
   the plant Iris. Cf. Orris.]
   1. (Class. Myth.) 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. (Anat.) The contractile membrane perforated by the pupil,
      and forming the colored portion of the eye. See Eye.

   5. (Bot.) 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. (Her.) See Fleur-de-lis, 2.
Iris \I"ris\, n. (Zo["o]l.)
   Inner circle of an oscillated color spot.

Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10) 

IRIS

   <body> Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship
   of Brown University (Providence RI).

   (1994-11-04)
Iris

   An object-oriented DBMS.

   (1994-11-04)

Source: V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms December 2001 

IRIS
        Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (org., Canada)