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Pleiades

[plee-uh-deez, plahy-]

Origin

plural noun

Classical Mythology. seven daughters of Atlas and half sisters of the Hyades, placed among the stars to save them from the pursuit of Orion. One of them (the Lost Pleiad) hides, either from grief or shame.

Astronomy. a conspicuous group or cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus, commonly spoken of as seven, though only six are visible.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English Pliades < Latin Plīades < Greek Pleíades (singular Pleías); akin to pleîn to sail

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Pleiades is always a great word to know.

So is Trojan War. Does it mean:

a ten-year war waged by the Greeks under Agamemnon against the Trojans to avenge the abduction of Helen and ending in the burning of Troy

the wife of Odysseus, who remained faithful to him during his long absence at Troy

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Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

any of the Pleiades.

French, Plé·iade

[pley-yad] . a group of seven French poets of the latter half of the 16th century.

(usually lowercase) any group of eminent or brilliant persons or things, especially when seven in number.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Pleiades

Collins

World English Dictionary

Pleiades¹ (ˈplaɪəˌdiːz)

—*pl n*
	Greek myth the seven daughters of Atlas, placed as stars in the sky either to save them from the pursuit of Orion or, in another account, after they had killed themselves for grief over the death of their half-sisters the Hyades

Pleiades² (ˈplaɪəˌdiːz)

—*pl n*
	Compare Hyades a young conspicuous open star cluster approximately 370 light years away in the constellation Taurus, containing several thousand stars only six or seven of which are visible to the naked eye

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

Pleiades

1388, the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, transformed by Zeus into seven stars, from L., from Gk. Pleiades, perhaps lit. "constellation of the doves" from a shortened form of peleiades, pl. of peleias "dove," from PIE base *pel- "dark-colored, gray." Or perhaps from plein "to sail," because the

EXPAND

season of navigation begins with their heliacal rising. Mentioned by Hesiod (pre-700 B.C.E.), only six now are visible to most people; on a clear night a good eye can see nine (in 1579, well before the invention of the telescope, astronomer Moestlin correctly drew 11 Pleiades stars); telescopes reveal at least 500.

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American Heritage

Science Dictionary

Pleiades

(plē'ə-dēz') Pronunciation Key
A loose collection of several hundred stars in the constellation Taurus, at least six of which are visible to the unaided eye.

Easton

Bible Dictionary

Pleiades definition

Heb. kimah, "a cluster" (Job 9:9; 38:31; Amos 5:8, A.V., "seven stars;" R.V., "Pleiades"), a name given to the cluster of stars seen in the shoulder of the constellation Taurus.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Pleiades

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