See Also: Venus(medicine)
Venus(dictionary)
Venus(encyclopedia)
Venus(dictionary)
Venus de Milo, the(dictionary)
Venus (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Venus's-flytrap(encyclopedia)
necklace of Venus(medicine)
crown of Venus(medicine)
collar of Venus(medicine)

Venus (iou)



Venus noun. OE.
[Latin.]
I.
a. Mythology. The Roman goddess of beauty and (esp. sexual) love; the corresponding Greek goddess Aphrodite; the love goddess of any other culture. OE.
b. A representation, esp. a statue or image, of Venus. LME.
L. Grant-Adamson Another Venus, Botticelli's Venus with Mars.
c. Archaeology. An upper palaeolithic human figurine, often female and often distinguished by exaggerated breasts, belly, and buttocks. E20.
Sexual love or desire; amorous activity or influence; lust. Now poet. & literary. LME.
A quality or characteristic exciting love; a charm, an attractive feature. M16-E18.
A beautiful or attractive woman. Chiefly poet. & literary. L16.
Harpers & Queen Clare Mosely, a Venus in furs.
II.
The second planet in order of distance from the sun, whose orbit lies between those of Mercury and the earth. Cf. MORNING STAR 1, EVENING star. ME.
Alchemy. The metal copper. LME-L18.
Heraldry. The tincture vert in the fanciful blazon of arms of sovereign princes. L16-E18.
The highest or most favourable throw in playing with huckle-bones. Long arch. E17.
Zoology. (The shell of) any of numerous rounded bivalve molluscs of the genus Venus or the family Veneridae. Also Venus clam (chiefly US). L18.
Comb. & phrases: mount of Venus = MONS VENERIS; Venus clam: see sense 9 above; Venus figure, Venus figurine = sense 1c above; Venus fly-trap: see FLY-TRAP 1; Venus' hair the maidenhair fern Adiantum capillus-veneris; Venus hairstone Mineralogy rutilated quartz; Venus's basin, Venus bath the wild teasel, Dipsacus fullonum, so called from the hollow formed by the connate leaves; Venus's comb the plant shepherd's needle, Scandix pecten-veneris; Venus's flower basket Zoology any of several deep-water glass sponges of the genus Euplectella, which have a rigid lattice skeleton; Venus's fly-trap: see FLY-TRAP 1; Venus's girdle Zoology any of several transparent ctenophores of the genus Cestus, which have a very long ribbon-like body and occur in warmer seas; Venus's hairstone Mineralogy rutilated quartz; Venus shell = sense 9 above; Venus's looking-glass either of two plants of the genus Legousia, of the bellflower family, L. speculum-veneris, a Continental plant grown for its round violet-blue flowers, and L. hybrida, a plant found as a cornfield weed in England; Venus's navelwort (a) = navelwort s.v. NAVEL; (b) any of several small ornamental plants of the genus Omphalodes, of the borage family, esp. O. linifolia; Venus's pride US the plant bluets, Hedyotis caerulea.