Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Sirius or Canicula, a star of the first magnitude in the constellation Canis Major, the heliacal rising of which (see heliacal) occurring in the hottest part of the year gave name to the dog-days (which see). See also Canicula, and cut under Canis.
Wiktionary
- n. astronomy A bluish-white star in the constellation Canis Major; Alpha (α) Canis Majoris. A vertex of the Winter Triangle and the brightest star in the night sky. It is actually a binary star with a white dwarf companion star.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. See in the Vocabulary.
- Sirius, a star of the constellation
Canis Major , or the Greater Dog, and the brightest star in the heavens; -- called alsoCanicula , and, in astronomical charts,α Canis Majoris . See dog days.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the brightest star in the sky; in Canis Major
Etymologies
- From the fact that the star lies in the constellation of Canis Major (the "larger dog") (Wiktionary)
- The brightest star in the constellation Canis Major, the Big Dog. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Painless and subtle, the little stroke happened during the first night of the Dog Star month of Sextilis; all Marius noticed when he woke in the morning was that his pillow was wet where apparently he had drooled in his sleep.”
“And spring turned into summer, and summer into the dog days of Sextilis, when Sirius the Dog Star shimmered sullenly over a heat-paralyzed Rome.”
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