Proper noun
The constellation and zodiacal sign Taurus.
- Examples
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The Bull reigneth in the neck, & in the throat.
Those stars said to belong to the Ram might as well be supposed to belong to the Bull or the Lion.
More examples (6)
The Ram, the Bull, the heavenly Twins, And next the Crab, the Lion shines, The Virgin and the Scales; The Scorpion, Archer, and Sea-Goat, The Man that carries the Water-pot, And Fish with glittering scales.
An early Grecian gem shows three nude figures, hand in hand, standing on the head of the Bull, one pointing to seven stars in line over the back, which Landseer referred to the Hyades.
In the Assyrian Standard [...] we see the figure of an Archer above that of a galloping Bull, and in another Assyrian Standard, that of Sargon II., we find not only the Archer and the Bull, the two constellations which 4,000 b.c. marked the equinoctial colure, but we may also clearly trace a reference to the two constellations which at the same date marked the solstitial colure, namely, those of the Lion and the Water-man.
Now, if you went down into the forest where the spring gum-tips gleam gold and ruby in whatever sunshine, Heaven thinks fit to apportion at this season to residents of the Dandenongs (who surely were all born Aquarians) what sign of the Zodiac would you expect to meet? [...] Not Taurus the Bull, who is paddocked, or Cancer the Crab, who lives underground in these regions.
‘The second Sign!’ cried Catweazle. ‘’Tis Taurus the Bull!’
The Bull was the Bull of Heaven to the Sumerians. It marked the spring equinox and the start of the new year. It's head has always been the Hyades, including Aldebaran.
Proper noun
A surname transferred from the nickname derived from the name of the animal.
Noun
(astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Taurus
- Synonyms