‖ Vesta
(ˈvɛstə)
Also 4 Veste.
[L. Vesta, the goddess of that name (see sense 1) answering to the Gr. Ἑστία, identical with ἑστία hearth, house, household.]
1. Mythol. A Roman female divinity, the daughter of Saturn, goddess of the hearth and household.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 73 He ȝaf a temple..wiþ fyre to þe goddes Vesta and here maydenes to be worschipped. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 157 Sche which was the Prioresse In Vestes temple the goddesse. 1513 Douglas æneid ii. v. 91 The..garlandis Of Vesta, goddes of the erd and fyre. 1589 Greene Roundelay Poems (1876) 102 Vesta's virgins with their holy fires Do cleanse the thoughts that fancy hath defiled. 1600 Holland Livy xxviii. xi. 676 The minds of men were put in feare, for the going out of the fire in the chappell of Vesta. 1632 Milton Penseroso 23 Yet thou art higher far descended, Thee bright-hair'd Vesta..To solitary Saturn bore. 1697 Dryden æneid ii. 395 He said, and brought me..The venerable statues of the gods, With ancient Vesta from the sacred choir. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Vestals, The Romans were not the only People who kept the perpetual Fire of Vesta, in imitation of the celestial Fires. 1820 Shelley Witch Atl. xxxiv, Couched..as on Vesta's sceptre a swift flame. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 285/1 Vesta was regarded as the goddess of domestic union and happiness. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 193/1 If ever the sacred fire of Vesta did go out, the negligent vestal was to be punished by scourging. |
| attrib. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 193/1 Fire was solemnly sent from the prytaneum or Vesta temple of the mother colony. |
2. Astr. One of the minor planets, revolving in an orbit between Mars and Jupiter.
| 1807 Phil. Trans. XCVII. 245 Observations and Measurements of the Planet Vesta. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 285/2 Vesta performs its revolution in about 1326 mean solar days. 1868 Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 214 The distance, and other elements of the orbit of Vesta, presented serious differences both with this theory and Bode's law. |
3. Used as the distinctive name of a special make of household stove.
| 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 68/2 In..the ‘Vesta stove’,..the ashes can be raked from the grate..without any dust rising into the room. 1843 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. VI. 422/2 The various stoves, Vesta, Chunk, &c.,..are all founded on the Arnott Stove. |
4. A kind of wax match.
Orig. attrib.| 1839 C. Sinclair Holiday House ii. 25 Laura afterwards singed a hole in her muslin frock, while lighting one of the Vesta matches to seal these numerous notes. 1857 Act 20 & 21 Vict. c. 62 §2 The following Duties of Customs shall be charged:..Lucifers, Vesta, of Wax, the 1,000 Matches, 0. 0. 0½. 1859 Cornwallis Panorama New World I. 326 Wax vestas, pipes, maccaroni, and candles. 1863 Abel in Lond. (etc.) Phil. Mag. Nov. 356 Varieties of wax or Vesta matches. 1864 Strauss, etc. Eng. Workshops 233 The vesta boxes are put in parcels of half-a-dozen and one dozen. 1886 D. C. Murray First Person Singular xix, Frost's trembling fingers had to strike one or two vestas. 1899 T. M. Ellis Three Cat's-eye Rings 68 The major pulled a vesta-case from his pocket. |