The Collaborative International Dictionary
Canis \Ca"nis\ (k[a^]"n[i^]s), n.; pl. Canes (-n[=e]z). [L., a dog.] (Zo["o]l.) A genus of carnivorous mammals, of the family Canid[ae], including the dogs and wolves.
Canis major [L., larger dog], a constellation to the southeast of Orion, containing Sirius or the Dog Star.
Canis minor [L., smaller dog], a constellation to the east of Orion, containing Procyon, a star of the first magnitude.
Wikipedia
Canis Major is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for "greater dog" in contrast to Canis Minor, the "lesser dog"; both figures are commonly represented as following the constellation of Orion the hunter through the sky. The Milky Way passes through Canis Major and several open clusters lie within its borders, most notably M41.
Canis Major contains Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, known as the "dog star". It is bright because of its proximity to the Solar System. In contrast, the other bright stars of the constellation are stars of great distance and high luminosity. At magnitude 1.5, Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara) is the second brightest star of the constellation and the brightest source of extreme ultraviolet radiation in the night sky. Next in brightness are the yellow-white supergiant Delta (Wezen) at 1.8, the blue-white giant Beta (Mirzam) at 2.0, blue-white supergiants Eta (Aludra) at 2.4 and Omicron at 3.0, and white spectroscopic binary Zeta (Furud), also at 3.0. The red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest stars known, while the neutron star RX J0720.4-3125 has a radius of a mere 5 km.
According to traditional Chinese uranography, the modern constellation Canis Major is located within the southern quadrant of the sky, which is symbolized as the Vermilion Bird of the South (南方朱雀, Nán Fāng Zhū Què).
The name of the western constellation in modern Chinese is 大犬座 (dà quǎn zuò), meaning "the giant dog constellation".
Usage examples of "canis major".
So I tried dog in other languages, merged that list with the list of ship names and there was the match--Canis Major.
The constellation of Canis Major the Great Dog, for example, contains Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, at magnitude -1.
Last year we had a session in which an alien used me as a vehicle to speak directly to Arthur about turbulence on a distant planet from within the constellation Canis Major.
Orion, Canis Major, Hydra, Corvus, and Centaurus in the southern skies.
But to our primitives, it was Canis Major, the big dog standing by his master.
Spirit of great Lion Star, he looked up to Sirius shining in the constellation of Canis Major, you are the only one who can see us here, for all the other spirits avoid the land of singing sand.
Guinan, behind the bar, was wearing a hat the size of Canis Major and cheerfully working on keeping everyone's glass filled.
Isn't that M 31 in Canis Major, the one with the red star in the middle?
Outside the window glimmered facsimile star patterns of Earth's northern-hemisphere winter: Orion, Canis Major and Minor, the gorgeous flow of the Milky Way.