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ARCTURUS

Volume 2 · 60 words · 1815 Edition

in Astronomy, a fixed star, of the first magnitude, in the constellation Arctophylax, or Bootes. The word is formed of *arctos*, bear, and *uas*, 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, pluriviasque Hyades, geminosoque Triones.*

See also Job ix. 9. xxxviii. 32.