Definitions

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

  • noun Greek Mythology A giant hunter, pursuer of the Pleiades and lover of Eos, killed by Artemis.
  • noun A constellation in the celestial equator near Gemini and Taurus, containing the stars Betelgeuse and Rigel.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A constellation situated in the southern hemisphere with respect to the ecliptic, but the equinoctial crosses it nearly in the middle.
  • noun In entomology, a genus of cerambycid beetles, with two South American species, founded by Guérin in 1843.

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

  • noun (Astron.) A large and bright constellation on the equator, between the stars Aldebaran and Sirius. It contains a remarkable nebula visible to the naked eye.

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

  • proper noun Greek mythology A giant-hunter, pursuer of the Pleiades and lover of Eos, and killed by Artemis.
  • proper noun astronomy A constellation on the celestial equator close to Gemini and Taurus, containing the stars Betelgeuse and Rigel.
  • proper noun A male given name of modern usage.

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

  • noun a constellation on the equator to the east of Taurus; contains Betelgeuse and Rigel
  • noun (Greek mythology) a giant Boeotian hunter who pursued the Pleiades and was eventually slain by Artemis; was then placed in the sky as a constellation

Etymologies

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

[Middle English Orioun, from Latin Ōrīōn, from Greek.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English Orioun, from Latin Ōrīōn, from Ancient Greek Ὠρίων (Ōriōn), from Akkadian Uru-anna, 'heaven's light'.

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