Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Phaethon \Pha"["e]*thon\, n. [L., Pha["e]thon (in sense 1), fr.
   Gr. ?, fr. ?, ?, to shine. See {Phantom}.]
   1. (Class. Myth.) The son of Helios (Ph[oe]bus), that is, the
      son of light, or of the sun. He is fabled to have obtained
      permission to drive the chariot of the sun, in doing which
      his want of skill would have set the world on fire, had he
      not been struck with a thunderbolt by Jupiter, and hurled
      headlong into the river Po.

   2. (Zo["o]l.) A genus of oceanic birds including the tropic
      birds.

Source : WordNet®

Phaethon
     n 1: (Greek mythology) son of Helios; killed when trying to drive
          his father's chariot and came too close to earth
     2: type genus of the Phaethontidae [syn: {genus Phaethon}]