Ceres

[ seer-eez ]

noun
  1. Classical Mythology. a pre-Roman goddess of agriculture under whose name the Romans adopted the worship of the Greek goddess Demeter.

  2. Astronomy. one of the brightest and by far the largest asteroid in our solar system, discovered in 1801 and located in the asteroid belt: the first asteroid to be discovered, Ceres is also classified as a dwarf planet. : See also Hygieia (def. 2), Pallas (def. 2), Vesta (def. 2).

  1. a town in central California.

Origin of Ceres

1
First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin Cerēs, the goddess of grain and mother of Persephone; as a common noun, “wheat, corn; bread, food”

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British Dictionary definitions for Ceres (1 of 2)

Ceres1

/ (ˈsɪəriːz) /


noun
  1. the Roman goddess of agriculture: Greek counterpart: Demeter

British Dictionary definitions for Ceres (2 of 2)

Ceres2

/ (ˈsɪəriːz) /


noun
  1. the smallest dwarf planet in the solar system, located in the asteroid belt. It has a diameter of 930 kilometres

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 Ceres

Ceres

[ sîrēz ]


  1. The closest dwarf planet to the Sun , with an orbit in the asteroid belt. Ceres was the first object in the asteroid belt to be discovered (1801). Initially considered a planet, it was reclassified as an asteroid in the mid-1800s and as a dwarf planet in 2006. It has a diameter of about 960 km (595 mi). See more at dwarf planet.

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

Cultural definitions for Ceres

Ceres

[ (seer-eez) ]


The Roman name for Demeter, the Greek and Roman goddess of agriculture.

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