name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   plural of velum form-of, plural

Proper Noun

1. 1
   A spring constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble the sails of a ship. Until 1763, it was part of a larger constellation, Argo Navis.

Synonyms

All synonyms

big dipperconstellation

Etymology

Named by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1763. From Latin vēla (“sails of a ship”), plural of vēlum. Doublet of veil.

Related phrases

argo navis

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.