Zeph´on, a cherub who detected Satan squatting in the garden, and brought him before Gabriel, the archangel. The word means “searcher of secrets.” Milton makes him “the guardian angel of paradise.”
Ithuriel and Zephon, with winged speed
Search thro’ this garden, leave unsearched no nook;
But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,
Now laid perhaps asleep, secure of harm.
Milton, Paradise Lost (1665).
Zephyr. (See Morgane.)
Zerbinette (3 syl.), the daughter of Argante (2 syl.), stolen from her parents by gypsies when four years old, and brought up by them. Léandre, the son of Seigneur Géronte fell in love with her, and married her; but the gypsies would not give her up without being paid £1500. Scapin wrung this money from Géronte, pretending it was to ransom Léandre, who had been made a prisoner by some Turks who intended to sell him in Algiers for a slave unless his ransom was brought within two hours. The old man gave Scapin the money grudgingly, and Scapin passed it over to the gypsies, when a bracelet led to the discovery that Zerbinette was the daughter of Seigneur Argante, a friend of Léandre’s father, and all parties were delighted at the different revelations.--Molière, Les Fourberies de Scapin (1671).
⁂ In the English version, called The Cheats of Scapin, by Thomas Otway, Zerbinette is called “Lucia,” her father, Argante, is called “Thrifty,” Léandre is Anglicized into “Leander,” Géronte becomes “Gripe” and the sum of money is £200.
Zerbi´no, son of the king of Scotland, and intimate friend of Orlando.--Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).