Water-carrier, in Astronomy, the 11th sign in the zodiac, reckoning from Aries; from which also the 11th part of the ecliptic takes its name.—The sun moves through Aquarius in the month of January; it is marked thus, ♒.

The poets feign, that Aquarius was Ganymede, whom Jupiter ravished under the shape of an eagle, and carried away into heaven, to serve as a cup-bearer, in the room of Hebe and Vulcan; whence the name.—Others hold, that the sign was thus called Aquatinta, because, when it appears in the horizon, the weather usually proves rainy.

The stars in the constellation Aquarius, in Ptolemy's catalogue, are 45; in Tycho's 41; in Hevelius's 47; in Flamsted's 108.

Aquartia. See Botany Index.