canicular

American  

[kuh-nik-yuh-ler] / kəˈnɪk yə lər /

adjective

Astronomy.

1. pertaining to the rising of the Dog Star or to the star itself.

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canicular British  

/ kəˈnɪkjʊlə /

adjective

1. of or relating to the star Sirius or its rising

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Etymology

Origin of canicular

Middle English, late Old English < Late Latin canīculāris of Sirius, equivalent to Latin Canīcul ( a ) Sirius ( cani ( s ) dog + -cula -cule ¹ ) + -āris -ar ¹

Example Sentences

Its rectangular avenues—so wide that they afford no protection from the wintry blast nor shelter from the canicular sunshine, and as interminable as a tale in a weekly newspaper—tire me out.

From My Unknown Chum by Fairbanks, Charles Bullard

Some days after the canicular holidays,–precisely when, a year previous, the poor prisoner had entered on his new office with so many philanthropic hopes,–that rumor came forth like a pestilential cloud out of the session-chambers.

From Hesperus or Forty-Five Dog-Post-Days Vol. II A Biography by Jean Paul

By comparing two successive years they could of course have got at a sidereal year; but this is what they did not do; hence the irregularity which produced the canicular cycle.

From Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville by Somerville, Mary

It was midsummer, but no words and no experience of other places can convey an idea of the canicular heat of Jerusalem.

From Tancred Or, The New Crusade by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

And now in the torrid heat of summer, the canicular days being at hand, the furnaces in the glass-house of the said Angelo have been extinguished.

From Marietta A Maid of Venice by Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)