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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.


canicular British  
/ kəˈnɪkjʊlə /

adjective

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

So that henceforth let no man feare to take either easie purgatives, or other inward Physicke, in the time of the canicular, or dog-dayes.

From Spadacrene Anglica The English Spa Fountain by Rutherford, James

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

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

Noon, too, does not want its characteristic touches—the lightning-like glancing of the lizard's rapid motion: Come il ramarro sotto la gran fersa Ne' d� canicular cangiando siepe Folgore par, se la via attraversa;—Inf.

From Dante. An essay. To which is added a translation of De Monarchia. by Church, R. W. (Richard William)

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