CONSTELLATION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Constellation

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/kˌɑnstəlˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Constellation n.

A cluster or group of fixed stars, or division of the heavens, designated in most cases by the name of some animal, or of some mythologial personage, within whose imaginary outline, as traced upon the heavens, the group is included. "The constellations seem to have been almost purposely named and delineated to cause as much confusion and inconvenience as possible." Note: In each of the constellations now recognized by astronomers (about 90 in number) the brightest stars, both named and unnamed, are designated nearly in the order of brilliancy by the letters of the Greek alphabet; as, alpha Tauri (Aldebaran) is the first star of Taurus, gamma Orionis (Bellatrix) is the third star of Orion.

An assemblage of splendors or excellences. "The constellations of genius had already begun to show itself... which was to shed a glory over the meridian and close of Philip's reign."

Fortune; fate; destiny. (Obs.) "It is constellation, which causeth all that a man doeth."

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Etymology of 'Constellation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Constellation" Quotes from Famous Books

... books an eagle (especially black) and P. N. of constellation but in Pop. usage a vulture. In Egypt it is the Neophron Percnopterus (Jerdon) or N. Gingianus (Latham), the Dijajat Far'aun or Pharaoh's hen. This bird has been known to kill the Bashah sparrow-hawk (Jerdon ...

— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4 • Richard F. Burton

... distincter masses, and the northwest wind still hunted them across the sky, until there came, first a tiny rift for a star, then a gap for a whole constellation, and finally a broad burst of moonlight. Gilbert now saw that the timber to which he clung was lodged nearly in the centre of the channel, as the water swept with equal force on either side of him. Beyond the banks there was a wooded hill on the left; on the right an overflowed meadow. ...

— The Story Of Kennett • Bayard Taylor

... like Antony, could desire in his will that wherever he died his body might be laid by the side of his beloved Cleopatra: nor of the chivalry of love when Berenice's beautiful hair was placed as a constellation in the heavens. Neither can we believe that devotion in the cause of love could be wanting when a whole nation was ready to wage a fierce and obstinate war for the sake of one beautiful woman. The Greeks had an insult to revenge, but the Trojans fought for the possession ...

— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... it and receiving a ten-rupee note from Jadu Babu, the astrologer said oracularly that he would return on the following afternoon, with a lad of twelve, who had been born under the Constellation of the Scales. ...

— Tales of Bengal • S. B. Banerjea

... the poles from the human intellect and will, in fact, would have nothing in common with them but the name; there would be about as much correspondence between the two as there is between the Dog, the heavenly constellation, and a dog, an animal that barks. This I will prove as follows. If intellect belongs to the divine nature, it cannot be in nature, as ours is generally thought to be, posterior to, or simultaneous with the things understood, inasmuch ...

— The Ethics • Benedict de Spinoza

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