[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

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.
      1913 webster

   2. the rainbow. --sir t. browne.
      1913 webster

   3. an appearance resembling the rainbow; a prismatic play of
      colors. --tennyson.
      1913 webster

   4. anat. the contractile membrane perforated by the pupil,
      and forming the colored portion of the eye. see eye.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster

   6. her. see fleur-de-lis, 2.
      1913 webster

   7. zool. the inner circle of an oscillated color spot.
      webster 1913 suppl.

   8. same as iris diaphragm.
      pjc
see also:
irises irides orris eye flower-de-luce fleur-de-lis 
iris diaphragm 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

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
     also: irides pl
see also:
flag fleur-de-lis sword lily iris diaphragm irides 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

98 moby thesaurus words for "iris":
   dalmatian, antigorite, baby blues, band, banjo eyes, bar,
   bespangle, bespeckle, bespot, blotch, bright eyes, butterfly,
   candy cane, chameleon, check, checker, cheetah, chrysotile,
   clear eyes, confetti, cornea, crazy quilt, dapple, dot, eye,
   eyeball, eyelid, firedog, flake, fleck, freckle, goggle eyes,
   harlequin, iridesce, iridize, jaguar, lens, leopard, lid, mackerel,
   mackerel sky, maculate, marble, marbled paper, marbleize, moire,
   mother-of-pearl, motley, mottle, nacre, naked eye,
   nictitating membrane, ocelot, oculus, opal, opalesce, ophite,
   optic, optic nerve, orb, organ of vision, patchwork quilt, peacock,
   peeper, pepper, polychrome, polychromize, popeyes, pupil, rainbow,
   retina, saucer eyes, sclera, serpentine, serpentine marble,
   shot silk, spangle, speck, speckle, spectrum, splotch, spot,
   sprinkle, starry orbs, stigmatize, stipple, streak, striate,
   stripe, stud, tattoo, tessellate, tortoise shell, unaided eye,
   variegate, vein, visual organ, zebra

[4] : Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002)

iris
     institute for robotics and intelligent systems org., canada
     
     

[5] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

iris
     
         institute for research in information and scholarship
        of brown university providence ri.
     
        1994-11-04
     
     

[6] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

iris
     
        an object-oriented dbms.
     
        1994-11-04
     
     
see also:
object-oriented dbms 

Iris >> I Words
Iris, definition of term: Iris
iris_pag1.html

Iris Diaphragm >> I Words
Iris Diaphragm, definition of term: Iris Diaphragm
iris+diaphragm_pag1.html