Pleiad

American  

[plee-uhd, plahy-uhd] / ˈpli əd, ˈplaɪ əd /

noun

1. any of the Pleiades.

2. French Pléiade.  a group of seven French poets of the latter half of the 16th century.

3. (usually lowercase) any group of eminent or brilliant persons or things, especially when seven in number.

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Pleiad ¹ British  

/ ˈplaɪəd /

noun

1. one of the Pleiades (stars or daughters of Atlas)

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pleiad ² British  

/ ˈplaɪəd /

noun

1. a brilliant or talented group, esp one with seven members

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Etymology

Origin of pleiad

C16: originally French Pléiade, name given by Pierre de Ronsard to himself and six other poets after a group of Alexandrian Greek poets who were called this after the _Pleiades ¹

Example Sentences

John Rogers' Lost Pleiad shows American sculpture at its most blatantly sentimental.

From Time Magazine Archive

You are the Lost Pleiad of Literature, that's what you are; and a mighty neat phrase that is.

From Margaret Montfort by Barry, Etheldred B. (Etheldred Breeze)

At night the one shy Pleiad drops Her veil to look within Thy clear, green-haloed deeps, and sees Herself more fair Than all her shining kin.

From Song-waves by Rand, Theodore H. (Theodore Harding)

Ever since there have only been six stars, the six maidens, in the Pleiad.

From Custom and Myth New Edition by Lang, Andrew

I can see only six of them, and there is a famous old tale about the "lost Pleiad."

From Earth and Sky Every Child Should Know Easy studies of the earth and the stars for any time and place by Rogers, Julia Ellen