Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The fourth brightest star in the sky and the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, approximately 36 light-years from Earth.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A yellow star in the northern hemisphere, the fourth in order of brightness in the entire heavens. It is situated between the thighs of Boötes, behind the Great Bear, and is easily found by following out the curve of the bear's tail. In the southern hemisphere it may be recognized by its forming a nearly equilateral triangle with Spica and Denebola. It is called by astronomers
α (alpha) Bootœ. See cut underBoo˙tes . - n. A genus of isopod crustaceans, of the family Idoteidœ or Arcturidœ.
Wiktionary
- n. astronomy A bright yellow-orange star in the constellation Boötes; Alpha (α) Boötis. It is the third brightest star in the night sky.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Anat.) A fixed star of the first magnitude in the constellation Boötes.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the 4th brightest star and the brightest star in the constellation Bootes; 36 light-years from Earth
Etymologies
- Borrowed from Latin Arctūrus. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Latin Arctūrus, from Greek Arktouros : arktos, bear; see r̥tko- in Indo-European roots + ouros, guard (from its position behind Ursa Major); see wer-3 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Arcturus comes from the Greek word -- Αρκτούρος -- meaning "bear guard.”
“Now cold came to the Jews, as it does to us, from the north, and the star which we know as Arcturus could not be described as typifying that direction either now or when the Septuagint or Vulgate versions were made.”
The Astronomy of the Bible An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References of Holy Scripture
“There was one pedantic point that really annoyed me about this book: Arcturus is spelt incorrectly throughout, missing the first 'r'.”
“In his videotaped lectures, Biltz focuses on a star called Arcturus, which is mentioned in the Old Testament Book of Job: "Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.”
“Long story short, he published it, everyone read it, and it changed enough lives to attract the largest fiction based cult following in Arcturus’ history.”
365 tomorrows » 2009 » April : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“But what is more remarkable, and which shows that this fable cannot be that of a Jew, is, that three constellations are spoken of, which we now call Arcturus, Orion, and the Pleiades.”
“Astronomers have released new evidence to show that a region of stars in our galaxy known as the Arcturus stream is the digested remains of what was once a neighbouring galaxy.”
“Well, Arcturus, which is a bright star, is 36 light-years away, if I remember correctly.”
“Neither Arcturus, which is mentioned in the Book of Job, nor Sirius, which attracted the attention of Homer, who compared the brightness of”
“The tail of the Great Bear, when prolonged with a continuation of the curve which it possesses, leads to a brilliant star of the first magnitude known as Arcturus, the principal star in the constellation of”
Tweets
Looking for tweets for Arcturus.
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