Saturn - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Sat·urn

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–noun

1.	an ancient Roman god of agriculture, the consort of Ops, believed to have ruled the earth during an age of happiness and virtue, identified with the Greek god Cronus.

Astronomy. the planet sixth in order from the sun, having an equatorial diameter of 74,600 mi. (120,000 km), a mean distance from the sun of 886.7 million mi. (1427 million km), a period of revolution of 29.46 years, and 21 known moons. It is the second largest planet in the solar system, encompassed by a series of thin, flat rings composed of small particles of ice.

3.	Alchemy. the metal lead.

4.	a U.S. space-vehicle booster developing from 2 million to 9 million lb. (900,000 to 4 million kg) of thrust for launching satellites, probes, and spaceships.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Saturn

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Sat·urn Audio Help (sāt'ərn) Pronunciation Key
n.

Roman Mythology The god of agriculture.
The sixth planet from the sun and the second largest in the solar system, having a sidereal period of revolution about the sun of 29.5 years at a mean distance of about 1,426,000,000 kilometers (886,000,000 miles), a mean diameter of approximately 120,000 kilometers (74,000 miles), and a mass 95 times that of Earth.

[Middle English Saturnus, from Old English, from Latin Sāturnus, of Etruscan origin.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Saturn

O.E. Sætern "Italic god," also "most remote planet" (then known), from L. Saturnus, Italic god of agriculture, possibly from Etruscan. Derivation from L. serere (pp. satus) "to sow" is said to be folk-etymology. Identified with Gk. Kronos, father of Zeus. Also the alchemical name for lead (c.1386). In Akkadian, the planet was kaiamanu, lit. "constant, enduring," hence Heb. kiyyun, Arabic and Pers. kaiwan "Saturn."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

saturn
noun
1.	a giant planet that is surrounded by three planar concentric rings of ice particles; the 6th planet from the sun
2.	(Roman mythology) god of agriculture and vegetation; counterpart of Greek Cronus; "Saturday is Saturn's Day"

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Saturn Audio Help (sāt'ərn) Pronunciation Key
The sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest, with a diameter about ten times that of Earth. Saturn is a gas giant that is almost as large as Jupiter in diameter but with only about 30 percent of Jupiter's mass. Its mainly gaseous composition together with its rapid axial rotation (it rotates once every 10.5 hours) cause a noticeable flattening at the poles and a prominent equatorial bulge. Saturn is encircled by a large, flat system of rings made up of rock fragments and tiny ice crystals, first observed by Galileo in 1610. The rings are believed to be unstable and therefore likely of recent origin; they may have been formed from bodies such as asteroids or moons that were shattered as they approached closer than the Roche limit. Saturn has numerous moons, of which the largest is Titan, the second largest moon in the solar system after Jupiter's Ganymede and larger than both Mercury and Pluto. See Table at solar system.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
Saturn

The Roman name for one of the Titans, the father of Zeus. In Roman mythology, Saturn fled from Mount Olympus after Zeus defeated the Titans. He settled in Italy and established a golden age, in which all people were equal and harvests were plentiful.

Note: Saturday (“Saturn's day”) is named after Saturn.

Note: The sixth planet from the sun (the Earth is third) is named Saturn.

[Chapter:] Mythology and Folklore

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
Saturn

In astronomy, the second-largest major planet, sixth from the sun. Saturn was named for the Roman god of agriculture. Like Jupiter, Saturn is composed largely of gases and liquids. Saturn is the most distant planet plainly visible to the naked eye. (See solar system; see under “Mythology and Folklore.”)

Note: Saturn, often called the most beautiful planet, is known for the rings that encircle it.

[Chapter:] Physical Sciences and Mathematics

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Saturn

Ring\, n. [AS. hring, hrinc; akin to Fries. hring, D. & G. ring, OHG. ring, hring, Icel. hringr, DAn. & SW. ring; cf. Russ. krug'. Cf. Harangue, Rank a row,Rink.] A circle, or a circular line, or anything in the form of a circular line or hoop.

2. Specifically, a circular ornament of gold or other precious material worn on the finger, or attached to the ear, the nose, or some other part of the person; as, a wedding ring.

Upon his thumb he had of gold a ring. --Chaucer.

The dearest ring in Venice will I give you. --Shak.

3. A circular area in which races are or run or other sports are performed; an arena.

Place me, O, place me in the dusty ring, Where youthful charioteers contend for glory. --E. Smith.

4. An inclosed space in which pugilists fight; hence, figuratively, prize fighting. "The road was an institution, the ring was an institution." --Thackeray.

5. A circular group of persons.

And hears the Muses in a ring Aye round about Jove's alter sing. --Milton.

6. (Geom.) (a) The plane figure included between the circumferences of two concentric circles. (b) The solid generated by the revolution of a circle, or other figure, about an exterior straight line (as an axis) lying in the same plane as the circle or other figure.

7. (Astron. & Navigation) An instrument, formerly used for taking the sun's altitude, consisting of a brass ring suspended by a swivel, with a hole at one side through which a solar ray entering indicated the altitude on the graduated inner surface opposite.

8. (Bot.) An elastic band partly or wholly encircling the spore cases of ferns. See Illust. of Sporangium.

9. A clique; an exclusive combination of persons for a selfish purpose, as to control the market, distribute offices, obtain contracts, etc.

The ruling ring at Constantinople. --E. A. Freeman.

Ring armor, armor composed of rings of metal. See Ring mail, below, and Chain mail, under Chain.

Ring blackbird (Zo["o]l.), the ring ousel.

Ring canal (Zo["o]l.), the circular water tube which surrounds the esophagus of echinoderms.

Ring dotterel, or Ringed dotterel. (Zo["o]l.) See Dotterel, and Illust. of Pressiroster.

Ring dropper, a sharper who pretends to have found a ring (dropped by himself), and tries to induce another to buy it as valuable, it being worthless.

Ring fence. See under Fence.

Ring finger, the third finger of the left hand, or the next the little finger, on which the ring is placed in marriage.

Ring formula (Chem.), a graphic formula in the shape of a closed ring, as in the case of benzene, pyridine, etc. See Illust. under Benzene.

Ring mail, a kind of mail made of small steel rings sewed upon a garment of leather or of cloth.

Ring micrometer. (Astron.) See Circular micrometer, under Micrometer.

Saturn's rings. See Saturn.

Ring ousel. (Zo["o]l.) See Ousel.

Ring parrot (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of Old World parrakeets having a red ring around the neck, especially Pal[ae]ornis torquatus, common in India, and P. Alexandri of Java.

Ring plover. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The ringed dotterel. (b) Any one of several small American plovers having a dark ring around the neck, as the semipalmated plover ([AE]gialitis semipalmata).

Ring snake (Zo["o]l.), a small harmless American snake (Diadophis punctatus) having a white ring around the neck. The back is ash-colored, or sage green, the belly of an orange red.

Ring stopper. (Naut.) See under Stopper.

Ring thrush (Zo["o]l.), the ring ousel.

The prize ring, the ring in which prize fighters contend; prize fighters, collectively.

The ring. (a) The body of sporting men who bet on horse races. [Eng.] (b) The prize ring.

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saturn

saturn: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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