[ahr-guh
s] 
| 1. | Classical Mythology. a giant with 100 eyes, set to guard the heifer Io: his eyes were transferred after his death to the peacock's tail. |
| 2. | a son of Phrixus and builder of the Argo. |
| 3. | (in the Odyssey) Odysseus' faithful dog, who recognized his master after twenty years and immediately died. |
| 4. | any observant or vigilant person; a watchful guardian. |
| 5. | (lowercase) Also, argus pheasant. any of several brilliantly marked Malayan pheasants of the Argusianus or Rheinardia genera. |
| Ar·gus (är'gəs) n.
[Latin, from Greek Argos.] |
A creature in classical mythology who had a hundred eyes. Hera set him to watch over Io, a girl who had been seduced by Zeus and then turned into a cow; with Argus on guard, Zeus could not come to rescue Io, for only some of Argus' eyes would be closed in sleep at any one time. Hermes, working on Zeus' behalf, played music that put all the eyes to sleep and then killed Argus. Hera put his eyes in the tail of the peacock.