Definitions

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

  • noun A three-headed dog guarding the entrance to Hades.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In class. myth., the watch-dog of the infernal regions, the offspring of the giant Typhaon and the serpent-woman Echidna.
  • noun In herpetology, a genus of East Indian serpents, related to the pythons, having the head entirely covered with small scales.
  • noun A constellation of Hevelius, formed out of four small stars of the constellation Hercules, and now obsolete.

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

  • noun (Class. Myth.) A monster, in the shape of a three-headed dog, guarding the entrance into the infernal regions, Hence: Any vigilant custodian or guardian, esp. if surly.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A genus of East Indian serpents, allied to the pythons; the bokadam.

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

  • proper noun A taxonomic genus within the family Colubridae — certain water snakes..
  • proper noun Greek mythology The three-headed dog who guards the entrance to Hades; and one of the many offspring of Echidna and Typhon.
  • proper noun astronomy A former constellation of the northern sky, near Hercules.

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

  • noun (Greek mythology) the three-headed dog guarding the entrance to Hades; son of Typhon

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Κέρβερος (Kerberos)

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