Definition of "Egeria"

Egeria

/ɪˈdʒɪəɹɪə/

proper noun
1. (Roman mythology) A nymph or minor goddess from Roman mythology.
  Quotations
  On the heroine of his play he dwelt with the passionate fondness of a lover: there the real mingled with the ideal: could he write of love, and not think of Ethel Churchill? She was the Egeria of his heart, who taught him all the truth of tenderness.
  1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], page 165
2. (astronomy) 13 Egeria, a main belt asteroid.
noun
1. A patroness.
  Quotations
  And she was being disrespectful and patronising to Lady Macmaster, Egeria to innumerable Scottish Men of Letters!
  1926, Ford Madox Ford, A Man Could Stand Up— (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 509
  Talleyrand informed Madame de Staël of the expected visit, and she, who had already pictured herself as the Egeria of the young genius upon whom the eyes of France were fastened, was waiting in the anteroom on the following morning.
  1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, published 2010, page 74