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Orion

 - 4 dictionary results

O⋅ri⋅on

[uh-rahy-uhn]
–noun, genitive Or⋅i⋅o⋅nis [awr-ee-oh-nis, or-, uh-rahy-uh-nis] for 2.
1. Classical Mythology. a giant hunter who pursued the Pleiades, was eventually slain by Artemis, and was then placed in the sky as a constellation.
2. Astronomy. the Hunter, a constellation lying on the celestial equator between Canis Major and Taurus, containing the bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel.
3. Military. a land-based U.S. Navy patrol plane with four turboprop engines, used to detect, track, and destroy enemy submarines and armed with missiles, torpedoes, mines, and depth bombs.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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O·ri·on   (ō-rī'ən, ə-rī'-)   
n.  
  1. Greek Mythology A giant hunter, pursuer of the Pleiades and lover of Eos, killed by Artemis.

  2. A constellation in the celestial equator near Gemini and Taurus, containing the stars Betelgeuse and Rigel.


[Middle English Orioun, from Latin Ōrīōn, from Greek.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

Orion 
1398, from Gk. Oarion, of unknown origin, though some speculate on Akkadian Uru-anna "the Light of Heaven." Another Gk. name for it was Kandaon, a title of Ares, god of war, and it is represented in most cultures as a giant (e.g. O.Ir. Caomai "the Armed King," O.N. Orwandil, O.S. Ebuðrung).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Orion

Heb. Kesil; i.e., "the fool", the name of a constellation (Job 9:9; 38:31; Amos 5:8) consisting of about eighty stars. The Vulgate renders thus, but the LXX. renders by Hesperus, i.e., "the evening-star," Venus. The Orientals "appear to have conceived of this constellation under the figure of an impious giant bound upon the sky." This giant was, according to tradition, Nimrod, the type of the folly that contends against God. In Isa. 13:10 the plural form of the Hebrew word is rendered "constellations."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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