ARCTURUS, in Astronomy, a fixed star, of the first magnitude, in the constellation Arctophylax, or Bootes. The word is formed of arctos, bear, and urus, 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, pluviasque Hyades, geminasque Triones.
See also Job ix. 9. xxxviii. 32.