‖ Taurus
(ˈtɔːrəs)
[L. taurus bull.]
1. Astron. a. The second of the zodiacal constellations, the Bull, in which are included the groups of the Pleiades and Hyades. b. Also, the second of the divisions or signs of the Zodiac, into which the sun enters on or near the 21st of April: originally identical with the constellation (cf. cancer 2). Symbol ♉.
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. i. §21 As aries hath [respect to] thin heued, & taurus thy nekke & thy throte, gemyni thyn armholes & thin armes. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. x. (Bodl. MS.), Taurus..is an erþy signe..And he is þe hous of substaunce and of ryches and possessioun of fonging & of ȝeuynge. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iii. 69 See, see, thou hast shot off one of Taurus hornes. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. iii. 904 Some say the Zodiack-Constellations Have long since chang'd their antique Stations Above a Sign, and prove the same In Taurus now, once in the Ram. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 769 As Bees In spring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides. 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. §94. 36 In 1861 it was found that a small nebula, discovered in 1856 in Taurus..had disappeared. |
c. A person born under the zodiacal sign of Taurus. Also attrib. or as adj.
| 1901 C. A. Walker Under a Lucky Star 84 The head-workers of humanity could accomplish but little without assistance from the practical, executive Taurus. 1927 G. Sully First Princ. Astrol. iii. 24 Taurus and Gemini make good mates when they set out to help one another unselfishly. 1943 D. Powell Time to be Born xi. 272 Her astrologer..failed her by promising a new man, a Taurus with a heart condition. 1964 L. MacNeice Astrol. v. 147 A 19th-century astrologer's idea of a Taurus woman. 1971 V. Canning Firecrest iii. 35 Henry Martin Dilling, born 1927, the same age as himself; though Dilling was a Leo and he Taurus. 1979 S. Rifkin McQuaid in August (1980) ix. 85 I'm Sagittarius. If you're Taurus..we can get a big thing going. |
† 2. Zool. An obsolete genus including the common ox (now Bos taurus).