Definitions

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

  • noun A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere, near Antlia and Puppis.

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

  • proper noun astronomy A spring constellation of the southern sky, said to resemble the compass of a ship. It is associated with the larger Argo Navis, although it was never officially part of that constellation.
  • proper noun A taxonomic genus within the family Testudinidae — some tortoises.

Etymologies

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

[New Latin Pyxis (nautica), (mariner's) compass, from Greek puxis, box.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Named by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1763, and originally called Pyxis Nautica "Nautical compass". From Latin pyxis, a "little box"

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin pyxis ("little box"), from Ancient Greek

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