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Venus

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Ve⋅nus

  [vee-nuhs]
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–noun, plural -us⋅es for 2.
1. an ancient Italian goddess of gardens and spring, identified by the Romans with Aphrodite as the goddess of love and beauty.
2. an exceptionally beautiful woman.
3. (sometimes lowercase) Archaeology. a statuette of a female figure, usually carved of ivory and typically having exaggerated breasts, belly, or buttocks, often found in Upper Paleolithic cultures from Siberia to France.
4. Astronomy. the planet second in order from the sun, having an equatorial diameter of 7521 miles (12,104 km), a mean distance from the sun of 67.2 million miles (108.2 million km), a period of revolution of 224.68 days, and no moons. It is the most brilliant planet in the solar system.
5. Chemistry Obsolete. copper.
Origin:
< L Venus, s. Vener- orig. a neut. common n. meaning “physical desire, sexual appetite,” hence “qualities exciting desire, seductiveness, charm,” “a goddess personifying sexual attractiveness”; c. Skt vanaḥ desire, akin to wish; cf. venerate, venom
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Ve·nus   (vē'nəs)   
n.  

  1. Roman Mythology The goddess of love and beauty.

  2. The second planet from the sun, having an average radius of 6,052 kilometers (3,761 miles), a mass 0.815 times that of Earth, and a sidereal period of revolution about the sun of 224.7 days at a mean distance of approximately 108.2 million kilometers (67.2 million miles).


[Middle English, from Old English, from Latin, love, Venus; see wen-1 in Indo-European roots.]
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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Cultural Dictionary

Venus

The Roman name of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty in classical mythology.

Note: The second planet from the sun (the Earth is third) is named Venus.

Venus

In astronomy, the second major planet from the sun, named for the Roman goddess of love. The surface of Venus is very hot and covered with clouds. Spacecraft from the former Soviet Union landed on Venus and survived long enough to send back photographs and measurements. (See solar system; see under “Mythology and Folklore.”)

Note: Venus is seen from the Earth as a bright morning or evening star — occasionally bright enough to cast a shadow.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

Venus 
O.E., from L. Venus (pl. veneres), in ancient Roman mythology, the goddess of beauty and love, especially sensual love, from venus "love, sexual desire, loveliness, beauty, charm," from PIE base *wen- "to strive after, wish, desire, be satisfied" (cf. Skt. vanas- "desire," vanati "desires, loves, wins;" Avestan vanaiti "he wishes, is victorious;" O.E. wynn "joy," wunian "to dwell," wenian "to accustom, train, wean," wyscan "to wish"). Applied by the Romans to Gk. Aphrodite, Egyptian Hathor, etc. Meaning "second planet from the sun" is attested from c.1290 (O.E. had morgensteorra and æfensteorra). The venus fly-trap (Dionæa muscipula) was discovered 1760 by Gov. Arthur Dobbs in North Carolina and description sent to Collinson in England.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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