Definitions

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

  • noun The fourth brightest star in the sky and the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, approximately 36 light years from Earth.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A yellow star in the northern hemisphere, the fourth in order of brightness in the entire heavens.
  • noun A genus of isopod crustaceans, of the family Idoteidœ or Arcturidœ.

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

  • noun (Anat.) A fixed star of the first magnitude in the constellation Boötes.

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

  • proper noun astronomy A bright yellow-orange star in the constellation Boötes; Alpha (α) Boötis. It is the third brightest star in the night sky.

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

  • noun the 4th brightest star and the brightest star in the constellation Bootes; 36 light-years from Earth

Etymologies

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

[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- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowed from Latin Arctūrus.

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Examples

  • Arcturus comes from the Greek word -- Αρκτούρος -- meaning "bear guard."

    Bear country (celestial version) 2006

  • Arcturus comes from the Greek word -- Αρκτούρος -- meaning "bear guard."

    Archive 2006-10-01 2006

  • 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 1889

  • There was one pedantic point that really annoyed me about this book: Arcturus is spelt incorrectly throughout, missing the first 'r'.

    May Books 19) Lord of the Flies, by William Golding nwhyte 2010

  • 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."

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science 2010

  • 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 2009

  • 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.

    A Philosophical Dictionary 2007

  • 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.

    Archive 2006-02-01 Zoe Brain 2006

  • 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.

    Burp! Zoe Brain 2006

  • Well, Arcturus, which is a bright star, is 36 light-years away, if I remember correctly.

    Never Change Elizabeth Berg 2001

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