Altair

[ al-tair, -tahyuhr, al-tair, -tahyuhr ]

noun
  1. a first-magnitude star in the constellation Aquila.

Origin of Altair

1
<Arabic (al-nasr) al-ṭā'ir (the) flying (eagle)

Words Nearby Altair

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Altair in a sentence

  • Above him was the enormous triangle formed by Deneb, Vega, and Altair.

  • When he arrived, the Altair officers were already there, a score of correct young men in white dress uniforms.

    Industrial Revolution | Poul William Anderson
  • Altair came to me and kept me stirred up till nearly two o'clock.

  • In his musing upon Altair he began to remember some very curious details.

  • Nothing explains Altair—nor that moaning wind—nor the writing on the slates.

British Dictionary definitions for Altair

Altair

/ (ˈæltɛə) /


noun
  1. the brightest star in the constellation Aquila. Visual magnitude: 0.77; spectral type: A7V; distance: 16.8 light years

Origin of Altair

1
Arabic, from al the + tā'ir bird

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for Altair

Altair

[ ăl-târ, -tīr ]


  1. A bright white star in the constellation Aquila. Altair is a main-sequence star in the Hertzprung-Russell diagram. It is the 12th brightest star in the night sky, with an apparent magnitude of 0.77. Altair, along with Vega and Deneb, form the Summer Triangle asterism. Scientific name: Alpha Aquilae.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.