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janus

 - 5 dictionary results

Ja⋅nus

  [jey-nuhs]
Use janus in a Sentence
–noun
1. an ancient Roman god of doorways, of beginnings, and of the rising and setting of the sun, usually represented as having one head with two bearded faces back to back, looking in opposite directions.
2. Astronomy. a moon of the planet Saturn, located just outside the rings.
Origin:
< L, special use of jānus doorway, archway, arcade
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Ja·nus   (jā'nəs)   
n.  

  1. Roman Mythology The god of gates and doorways, depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions.

  2. A satellite of Saturn.


[Latin Iānus, iānus, archway, doorway; see ei- 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

Janus [(jay-nuhs)]

The Roman god of doors and gateways and hence of beginnings.

Note: Janus was pictured with two faces looking in opposite directions, one young and one old. Consequently, a hypocritical person is often called “Janus-faced.”
Note: The month of January is named after Janus.
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

Janus 
ancient It. deity, guardian god of portals, patron of beginnings and endings, 1508, from L., lit. "gate, arched passageway," perhaps from PIE base *ei- "to go" (cf. Skt. yanah "path," O.C.S. jado "to travel"). He is shown as having two faces, one in front the other in back. His temple in Rome was closed only in times of peace.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

Janus
1. Distributed language with an ask/tell constraint system.
qdjanus is a Janus-to-Prolog compiler for Sicstus Prolog and jc is compiles to C.
["Janus: A Step Towards Distributed Constraint Programming", V. Saraswat et al in Logic Programming: Proc 1990 North Am Conf, S. Debray et al eds, MIT Press 1990].
["Programming in Janus", Saraswat, Kahn, and Levy].
2. W.M. Waite, U Colorado. Intermediate language, claimed as an implementation of UNCOL. Used on CDC 6600.
["Experience with the Universal Intermediate Language Janus", B.K. Haddon et al, Soft Prac & Exp 8(5):601- 616 (Sep 1978)].

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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