Adjacent Words

Venus definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VE'NUS, n. [L. ventus, venenum; Eng. venom to poison, to fret or irritate. These affinities lead to the true origin of these words. The primary sense of the root is to shoot or rush, as light or wind. From light is derived the sense of white, fair, Venus, or it is from opening, parting; and from rushing, moving, comes wind, and the sense of raging, fury, whence L. venenum, poison, that which frets or causes to rage. These words all coincide with L. venio, which signifies to rush, to fall, to happen; venor, to hunt, etc. The Greeks had the same idea of the goddess of love, viz. that her name signified fairness, whiteness, and hence the fable that she sprung from froth, whence her Green name.]
1. In mythology, the goddess of beauty and love; that is, beauty or love deified; just as the Gaelic and Irish diana, swiftness, impetuosity, is denominated the goddess of hunting.
2. In astronomy, one of the inferior planets, whose orbit is between the earth and Mercury; a star of brilliant splendor.
3. In the old chimistry, a name given to copper.
VENUS'S COMB, n. A plant of the genus Scandix; shepherd's needle.
VENUS'S LOOKING-GLASS, n. A plant of the genus Campanula.
VENUS'S NAVELWORT, n. A plant of the genus Cynoglossum.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the second nearest planet to the sun; it is peculiar in that its rotation is slow and retrograde (in the opposite sense of the Earth and all other planets except Uranus); it is visible from Earth as an early `morning star' or an `evening star'; "before it was known that they were the same object the evening star was called Venus and the morning star was called Lucifer"
2: goddess of love; counterpart of Greek Aphrodite [syn: Venus, Urania]
3: type genus of the family Veneridae: genus of edible clams with thick oval shells [syn: Venus, genus Venus]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Latin Vener-, Venus Date: before 12th century 1. the Roman goddess of love and beauty — compare Aphrodite 2. the planet second in order from the sun — see planet table

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. Venuses) 1 the planet second from the sun in the solar system. 2 poet. a a beautiful woman. b sexual love; amorous influences or desires. Phrases and idioms: Venus (or Venus's) fly-trap a flesh-consuming plant, Dionaea muscipula, with leaves that close on insects etc. Venus's comb = shepherd's needle (see SHEPHERD). Venus's looking-glass any of various plants of the genus Legousia with small blue flowers. Derivatives: Venusian adj. & n. Etymology: OE f. L Venus Veneris, the goddess of love

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Venus Ve"nus, n. [L. Venus, -eris, the goddess of love, the planet Venus.] 1. (Class. Myth.) The goddess of beauty and love, that is, beauty or love deified. 2. (Anat.) One of the planets, the second in order from the sun, its orbit lying between that of Mercury and that of the Earth, at a mean distance from the sun of about 67,000,000 miles. Its diameter is 7,700 miles, and its sidereal period 224.7 days. As the morning star, it was called by the ancients Lucifer; as the evening star, Hesperus. 3. (Alchem.) The metal copper; -- probably so designated from the ancient use of the metal in making mirrors, a mirror being still the astronomical symbol of the planet Venus. [Archaic] 4. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of marine bivalve shells of the genus Venus or family Venerid[ae]. Many of these shells are large, and ornamented with beautiful frills; others are smooth, glossy, and handsomely colored. Some of the larger species, as the round clam, or quahog, are valued for food. Venus's basin (Bot.), the wild teasel; -- so called because the connate leaf bases form a kind of receptacle for water, which was formerly gathered for use in the toilet. Also called Venus's bath. Venus's basket (Zo["o]l.), an elegant, cornucopia-shaped, hexactinellid sponge (Euplectella speciosa) native of the East Indies. It consists of glassy, transparent, siliceous fibers interwoven and soldered together so as to form a firm network, and has long, slender, divergent anchoring fibers at the base by means of which it stands erect in the soft mud at the bottom of the sea. Called also Venus's flower basket, and Venus's purse. Venus's comb. (a) (Bot.) Same as Lady's comb. (b) (Zo["o]l.) A species of Murex (M. tenuispinus). It has a long, tubular canal, with a row of long, slender spines along both of its borders, and rows of similar spines covering the body of the shell. Called also Venus's shell. Venus's fan (Zo["o]l.), a common reticulated, fanshaped gorgonia (Gorgonia flabellum) native of Florida and the West Indies. When fresh the color is purple or yellow, or a mixture of the two. Venus's flytrap. (Bot.) See Flytrap, 2. Venus's girdle (Zo["o]l.), a long, flat, ribbonlike, very delicate, transparent and iridescent ctenophore (Cestum Veneris) which swims in the open sea. Its form is due to the enormous development of two spheromeres. See Illust. in Appendix. Venus's hair (Bot.), a delicate and graceful fern (Adiantum Capillus-Veneris) having a slender, black and shining stem and branches. Venus's hair stone (Min.), quartz penetrated by acicular crystals of rutile. Venus's looking-glass (Bot.), an annual plant of the genus Specularia allied to the bellflower; -- also called lady's looking-glass. Venus's navelwort (Bot.), any one of several species of Omphalodes, low boraginaceous herbs with small blue or white flowers. Venus's pride (Bot.), an old name for Quaker ladies. See under Quaker. Venus's purse. (Zo["o]l.) Same as Venus's basket, above. Venus's shell. (Zo["o]l.) (a) Any species of Cypr[ae]a; a cowrie. (b) Same as Venus's comb, above. (c) Same as Venus, 4. Venus's slipper. (a) (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Cypripedium. See Lady's slipper. (b) (Zo["o]l.) Any heteropod shell of the genus Carinaria. See Carinaria.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Aphrodite, Cytherea. 2. (Astron.) Lucifer, morning star, Phosphor, phosphorus. 3. Hesperus, Hesper, Vesper, evening star.

Moby Thesaurus

Adonis, Agdistis, Aldebaran, Amor, Aphrodite, Apollo, Apollo Belvedere, Apollon, Ares, Artemis, Astarte, Ate, Athena, Bacchus, Balder, Canicula, Ceres, Cleopatra, Cora, Cronus, Cupid, Cybele, Demeter, Despoina, Diana, Dionysus, Dis, Dog Star, Earth, Eros, Freya, Gaea, Gaia, Ge, Great Mother, Hades, Hebe, Helios, Hephaestus, Hera, Here, Hermes, Hesper, Hesperus, Hestia, Hymen, Hyperion, Jove, Juno, Jupiter, Jupiter Fidius, Jupiter Fulgur, Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Jupiter Pluvius, Jupiter Tonans, Kama, Kore, Kronos, Love, Lucifer, Magna Mater, Mars, Mercury, Minerva, Mithras, Momus, Narcissus, Neptune, Nike, North Star, Olympians, Olympic gods, Ops, Orcus, Persephassa, Persephone, Phoebus, Phoebus Apollo, Phosphor, Phosphorus, Pluto, Polaris, Poseidon, Proserpina, Proserpine, Rhea, Saturn, Sirius, Tellus, Uranus, Venus de Milo, Vesper, Vesta, Vulcan, Zeus, asteroid, celestial body, comet, daystar, evening star, fixed stars, heavenly body, houri, inferior planet, living sapphires, lodestar, major planet, minor planet, morning star, orb, peri, planet, planetoid, polar star, polestar, secondary planet, solar system, sphere, starry host, stars, superior planet, terrestrial planet, the Graces, wanderer