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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cerberus

Cerberus \Cer"be*rus\, n. [L. Cerberus (in sense 1), gr. ?.]

  1. (Class. Myth.) A monster, in the shape of a three-headed dog, guarding the entrance into the infernal regions, Hence: Any vigilant custodian or guardian, esp. if surly.

  2. (Zo["o]l.) A genus of East Indian serpents, allied to the pythons; the bokadam.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Cerberus

"watch-dog guardian of Hades," late 14c., Latinized form of Greek Kerberos, which is of unknown origin, according to Klein perhaps cognate with Sanskrit karbarah, sabalah "spotted, speckled;" Sabalah was the name of one of the two dogs of Yama.

Wikipedia
Cerberus

In Greek mythology, Cerberus (; Kerberos ), often called the "hound of Hades", is a monstrous multi-headed dog, who guards the gates of the underworld, preventing the dead from leaving. He was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon, and is usually described as having three heads, a serpent for a tail, with snakes protruding from various parts of his body. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, one of Heracles' twelve labours.

Cerberus (snake)

Cerberus (common name dog-faced water snakes) is a small genus of water snakes in the family Colubridae. Member species are common inhabitants of Southeast Asia's mangrove habitat and mudflats. Its name is that of the dog-like Greek mythological creature Cerberus.

Category:Colubrids

Cerberus (constellation)

Cerberus is an obsolete constellation created by Hevelius, whose stars are now included in the constellation Hercules. It was depicted as a three-headed snake that Hercules is holding in his hand. The constellation is no longer in use. This constellation "figure typified the serpent ... infesting the country around Taenarum the Μέτωπον of Greece, the modern Cape Matapan." The presence of Cerberus (Kerberos) at Taenarum (Tainaron) is mentioned by Strabōn, Statios, and Seneca. John Senex combined this constellation with the likewise obsolete constellation Ramus Pomifer, an apple branch held by Hercules, in his 1721 star map to create Cerebus et Ramus.

Cerberus (disambiguation)

Cerberus is a mythical multi-headed dog.

Cerberus may also refer to:

Cerberus (Martian albedo feature)

Cerberus is a large "dark spot" (an albedo feature) located on Mars and named after the mythical dog Cerberus. The arcuate markings in the upper right are in the Amazonis plains and may be sand drifts. The Elysium volcano, a yellow area north of Cerberus, has several channels radiating from its flanks. The three bright spots, upper left, are volcanoes partially veiled by thin clouds.

High resolution images show the bulk of the Cerberus Plains is covered by platy-ridged and inflated lavas, which are interpreted as insulated sheet flows. Eastern Cerberus Plains lavas originate at Cerberus Fossae fissures and shields. Some flows extend for 2000 km through Marte Valles into Amazonis Planitia. Athabasca Valles are both incised into pristine lavas and embayed by pristine lavas, indicating that Athabascan fluvial events were contemporaneous with volcanic eruptions. Deposits of the Medusae Fossae Formation lie both over and under lavas, suggesting the deposition of the Medusae Fossae Formation was contemporaneous with volcanism. Statistics of small craters indicate lavas in the Western Cerberus Plains may be less than a million years old, but the model isochrons may be unreliable if the small crater population is dominated by secondary craters. Images showing no large craters with diameters 500 m superimposed on Western Cerberus Plains lavas indicate the same surface is younger than 49 Ma.

Cerberus (sonar)

Cerberus is a blue egg-shaped ultrasound Diver Detection Sonar to detect submerged divers. It is made by Qinetiq. It can distinguish a diver from a seal or dolphin or porpoise. Its range is about . It was unveiled at UDT2003. It is semi-intelligent and reportedly can detect an air-filled chest cavity underwater and let its operator tell whether the echo is from a man or something irrelevant such as a seal or dolphin, and to distinguish between: a shoal of fish; a ship's wake; a diver with an open-circuit scuba set; a stealth diver with a rebreather; flotsam and jetsam.

Cerberus (protein)

Cerberus also known as CER1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CER1 gene.

Cerberus (film)

Cerberus (also known as Cerberus: the Guardian of Hell), is a 2005 Sci Fi Channel original film, starring Sebastian Spence, Emmanuelle Vaugier, and Greg Evigan. The film was directed by John Terlesky, and was released direct–to–video in 2005.

Usage examples of "cerberus".

Cerberus Systems were gathered on Alegria IV, all but one of them present in person.

Lord Beelzebub, the Lord Lucifer, the Lord Legion, the Lord Apollyon, the Lord Python, the Lord Cerberus, and the Lord Belial.

The bioengineering tour de force that had created Cerberi had also screwed up their hereditary instincts.

A well-built stranger wearing the white bodysuit of Cerberus duty personnel followed them.

It was quite necessary that the man should be hale and hearty, for it was his business to grapple with the Fijian Cerberus in the other world, while his majesty slipped past into the abode of bliss.

Their first line of attack was the sophisticated communications technology that allowed them to listen verbatim to the interbank conversations carried on between Cerberus and its computer brethren around the world.

Cerberus found it for him easily enough, but it was a steep sidehill lie in the tall heather.

Comsat kept track of Cerberus personnel when they were away from the redoubt through telemetric signals relayed by subcutaneous transponders.

Southerly, near a broad shallow river, was allied to us by force the country of Tolteca, which I knew would march anywhere at my will, were I to point into the grinning mouths of Cerberus.

Shouts of laughter rent the air, which had such an intimidating effect on Eazas and Cerberus that not all the adjurations of the exorcists could extract the slightest response.

Thus when I was pleasantly mocked and taunted by Fotis, I sayd unto her, verily now may I for this atcheived enterprise be numbered as Hercules, who by his valiant prowesse performed the twelve notable Labors, as Gerion with three bodies, and as Cerberus with three heads, for I have slaine three blown goat skinnes.

The executive tended to make a painful example of those accused of offenses against the thronelike feeding the miscreant piecemeal to a Cerberus, or simmering him slowly in cooking oil, with full medical support to keep him alive and conscious until the last possible moment.

Before the white-coated, faceless men and women of Project Cerberus had trawled him into the future.

Brigid had been very surprised to learn that Cerberus was uplinked with a Vela-class reconnaissance satellite, as well as with Comsat communications.

He did not see the Thalassa launch that pulled away from the island, pitching and yawing, the outboard cavitating with each plunge as it struggled toward the boarding hatch on the far side of the Cerberus.