Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Greek Mythology A giant with 100 eyes who was made guardian of Io and was later slain by Hermes.
  • noun An alert or watchful person; a guardian.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Grecian legend, a giant of vast strength, held in early times to have four eyes, and later to have eyes without number. Hera set him to guard the heifer Io, and after he was slain by Hermes transferred his eyes to the tail of the peacock.
  • noun Any observant or sharp-sighted person: as, he is a very Argus in watchfulness.
  • noun In ornithology: A genus of gallinaceous birds, of the order Gallinœ and family Phasianidœ, characterized by the enormous development of the secondary feathers of the wings and middle feathers of the tail, the former being adorned with numerous ocelli, likened to the many eyes of Argus.
  • noun [lowercase] Any species of the genus Argus; an argus-pheasant.
  • noun A genus of gastropods.
  • noun A genus of lepidopterous insects.
  • noun A genus of arachnidans.
  • noun [lowercase] A name of certain euryalean ophiurians, or sand-stars with branching arms.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • proper noun (Myth.) A fabulous being of antiquity, said to have had a hundred eyes, who has placed by Juno to guard Io. His eyes were transplanted to the peacock's tail.
  • proper noun One very vigilant; a guardian always watchful.
  • proper noun (Zoöl.) A genus of East Indian pheasants. The common species (Argus giganteus) is remarkable for the great length and beauty of the wing and tail feathers of the male. The species Argus Grayi inhabits Borneo.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun Greek mythology A fabulous being of antiquity, also called Argus Panoptes, said to have had a hundred eyes. His eyes were transplanted to the peacock’s tail. He was a servant of the greek goddess Hera.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (Greek mythology) a giant with 100 eyes; was guardian of the heifer Io and was slain by Hermes
  • noun large brilliantly patterned East Indian pheasant

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin, from Greek Argos.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Ἄργος.

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