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• pyxis
  pyxis

  noun

  a box of a usually cylindrical shape having a lid with a knob in the center, used for toilet articles.
• Pyxis
  Pyxis

  noun

  the Compass, a southern constellation: one of the subordinate constellations into which Argo is now divided.

pyxis

¹ American  

[pik-sis] / ˈpɪk sɪs /

noun

• pyxides
  plural

1. Greek and Roman Antiquity. a box of a usually cylindrical shape having a lid with a knob in the center, used for toilet articles.

2. pyx.

3. Botany. a pyxidium.

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Pyxis ² American  

[pik-sis] / ˈpɪk sɪs /

noun

Astronomy.

• Pyxidis
  genitive

1. the Compass, a southern constellation: one of the subordinate constellations into which Argo is now divided.

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pyxis ¹ British  

/ ˈpɪksɪs /

noun

1. a small box used by the ancient Greeks and Romans to hold medicines, etc

2. a rare word for pyx

3. another name for pyxidium

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Pyxis ² British  

/ ˈpɪksɪs /

noun

1. an inconspicuous constellation close to Puppis that was originally considered part of the more extensive constellation Argo

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pyxides
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of pyxis¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek pyxís a box

Origin of Pyxis²

1680–90; < Latin < Greek pyxís a box, pyx

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pyxis Pyxis Pyxidis

The marriage is celebrated here in a pyxis attributed to the Meleager Painter.

From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2010

Page 3, line 45. pyxidem.—The word pyxis, which occurs here, and in the next sentence as pyxidem nauticam, is translated compass.

From On the magnet, magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments by William Gilbert

On the Dodwell pyxis of 650 to 620 B.C., a man wears an oval shield, covering him from the base of the neck to the ankles.

From Homer and His Age by Andrew Lang

Pyxidata means made like a box, from pyxis, a box.

From The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Miron Elisha Hard

The pyxis was used by women at their toilet, and the lekythos, alabastron and askos for oil and unguents.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 6 "Celtes, Konrad" to "Ceramics" by Various

The Pyxis Ocean tested the British-designed WindWings for six months.

From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2024

A company called Yara Marine built the WindWings, which were then put on the Pyxis Ocean – a cargo ship owned by Mitsubishi.

From NewsForKids.net ● Sep. 6, 2023

The Pyxis Ocean will take an estimated six weeks to reach its destination - but the technology it is using has its origins in something much faster.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2023

The tanker was the Dubai-managed Pyxis Delta and the crew member killed was a Filipino, security firm AKE said.

From Reuters ● Feb. 14, 2013

Pyxis, Pyxidium, a pod opening round horizontally by a lid, 124.

From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Asa Gray

Repeated outbursts have not, in the case of T Pyxidis, destroyed the star, because it has gone through this process three times in the past thirty years.

From Astronomy: The Science of the Heavenly Bodies by David Peck Todd

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