Hyades

[hahy-uh-deez]

noun (used with a plural verb)

Astronomy. a group of stars comprising a moving cluster in the constellation Taurus, supposed by the ancients to indicate the approach of rain when they rose with the sun.

Classical Mythology. a group of nymphs and sisters of the Pleiades who nurtured the infant Dionysus and were placed among the stars as a reward.

Also Hy·ads

[hahy-adz] /ˈhaɪ ædz/.

Origin of Hyades

1350–1400; Middle English Hiades < Latin < Greek, equivalent to hý(ein) to rain + -ades, plural of -as -ad¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hyades

Contemporary Examples of hyades

Songs that the Hyades shall sing, Where flap the tatters of the King, Must die unheard in Dim Carcosa.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the Show
Robert W. Chambers
February 20, 2014

Historical Examples of hyades

Spenser's term for the Hyades, a group of seven stars in the head of the Bull.
The Sailor's Word-Book
William Henry Smyth
Another naked-eye double is formed by θ1 and θ2, in the Hyades.
Pleasures of the telescope
Garrett Serviss
Both the Pleiades and the Hyades are celestial constellations.
1000 Mythological Characters Briefly Described
Edward S. Ellis
He was peculiarly named Hues, and his priests were the Hyades and Hyautes.
Ophiolatreia
Anonymous
With Aldebaran rises the beautiful V-shaped group of the Hyades.
Astronomy with an Opera-glass
Garrett Putman Serviss

British Dictionary definitions for hyades

Hyades

Hyads (ˈhaɪædz)

pl n

an open cluster of stars in the constellation TaurusCompare Pleiades 1

Word Origin for Hyades

C16: via Latin from Greek huades, perhaps from huein to rain

Hyades

pl n

Greek myth seven nymphs, daughters of Atlas, whom Zeus placed among the stars after death

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

Word Origin and History for hyades

Hyades

star cluster in constellation Taurus, late 14c., from Greek Hyades, popularly explained as "rain-bringers" (from hyein "to rain"), because wet weather supposedly began coincidentally with their heliacal rising, but in fact probably from hys "swine" (the popular Latin word for them was Suculae "little pigs"). Grimm ("Teutonic Mythology") lists the Anglo-Saxon glosses of Hyades as Raedgastran, Raedgasnan, Redgaesrum.