Definition of: Oedipus

(ed′ə·pəs, ē′də-)
In Greek legend, the son of Laius and Jocasta, who, abandoned by them at birth because of an oracle and raised by the king of Corinth, eventually returned to Thebes. After guessing the riddle of the sphinx and accidentally killing his father, he unwittingly married his mother and became king of Thebes; discovering his relationship to Jocasta, he blinded himself and died in exile. Also Œd′i·pus. [<L <Gk. Oidipous, lit., swollen–footed]