ARCTURUS, in Astronomy, a fixed star, of the first magnitude, in the constellation Arctophylax, or Bootes. The word is formed of arctos, bear, and ursus, tail, q. d. bear's tail, as being very near it. This star was known to the ancients, as in the following verse of Virgil:
Arcturum, pluviaque Hyades, geminasque Triones.
See also Job ix. 9. xxxviii. 32.