What is "hesperus"

Hesperus \Hes"pe*rus\, n. [L. See Hesper.]

1. Venus when she is the evening star; Hesper.

2. Evening. [Poetic]

   The Sun was sunk, and after him the Star Of Hesperus.
   --Milton.

Venus \Ve"nus\, n. [L. Venus, -eris, the goddess of love, the planet Venus.]

1. (Class. Myth.) The goddess of beauty and love, that is, beauty or love deified.

2. (Anat.) One of the planets, the second in order from the sun, its orbit lying between that of Mercury and that of the Earth, at a mean distance from the sun of about 67,000,000 miles. Its diameter is 7,700 miles, and its sidereal period 224.7 days. As the morning star, it was called by the ancients Lucifer; as the evening star, Hesperus.

3. (Alchem.) The metal copper; -- probably so designated from the ancient use of the metal in making mirrors, a mirror being still the astronomical symbol of the planet Venus.

4. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of marine bivalve shells of the genus Venus or family Venerid[ae]. Many of these shells are large, and ornamented with beautiful frills; others are smooth, glossy, and handsomely colored. Some of the larger species, as the round clam, or quahog, are valued for food. Venus's basin (Bot.), the wild teasel; -- so called because the connate leaf bases form a kind of receptacle for water, which was formerly gathered for use in the toilet. Also called Venus's bath. Venus's basket (Zo["o]l.), an elegant, cornucopia-shaped, hexactinellid sponge ( Euplectella speciosa) native of the East Indies. It consists of glassy, transparent, siliceous fibers interwoven and soldered together so as to form a firm network, and has long, slender, divergent anchoring fibers at the base by means of which it stands erect in the soft mud at the bottom of the sea. Called also Venus's flower basket, and Venus's purse. Venus's comb.

   1. (Bot.) Same as Lady's comb.

   2. (Zo["o]l.) A species of Murex ( Murex tenuispinus). It has a long, tubular canal, with a row of long, slender spines along both of its borders, and rows of similar spines covering the body of the shell. Called also Venus's shell. Venus's fan (Zo["o]l.), a common reticulated, fanshaped gorgonia ( Gorgonia flabellum) native of Florida and the West Indies. When fresh the color is purple or yellow, or a mixture of the two. Venus's flytrap. (Bot.) See Flytrap, 2. Venus's girdle (Zo["o]l.), a long, flat, ribbonlike, very delicate, transparent and iridescent ctenophore ( Cestum Veneris) which swims in the open sea. Its form is due to the enormous development of two spheromeres. See Illust. in Appendix. Venus's hair (Bot.), a delicate and graceful fern ( Adiantum Capillus-Veneris) having a slender, black and shining stem and branches. Venus's hair stone (Min.), quartz penetrated by acicular crystals of rutile. Venus's looking-glass (Bot.), an annual plant of the genus Specularia allied to the bellflower; -- also called lady's looking-glass. Venus's navelwort (Bot.), any one of several species of Omphalodes, low boraginaceous herbs with small blue or white flowers. Venus's pride (Bot.), an old name for Quaker ladies. See under Quaker. Venus's purse. (Zo["o]l.) Same as Venus's basket, above. Venus's shell. (Zo["o]l.)

      1. Any species of Cypr[ae]a; a cowrie.

      2. Same as Venus's comb, above.

   3. Same as Venus, 4. Venus's slipper.

      1. (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Cypripedium. See Lady's slipper.

      2. (Zo["o]l.) Any heteropod shell of the genus Carinaria. See Carinaria.

Evening \E"ven*ing\, n. [AS. [=ae]fnung. See even, n., and cf. Eve.]

1. The latter part and close of the day, and the beginning of darkness or night; properly, the decline of the day, or of the sun.

   In the ascending scale Of heaven, the stars that usher evening rose.
   --Milton.

   Note: Sometimes, especially in the Southern parts of the United States, the afternoon is called evening.
   --Bartlett.

2. The latter portion, as of life; the declining period, as of strength or glory.

   Note: Sometimes used adjectively; as, evening gun. ``Evening Prayer.''
   --Shak.

   Evening flower (Bot.), a genus of iridaceous plants ( Hesperantha) from the Cape of Good Hope, with sword-shaped leaves, and sweet-scented flowers which expand in the evening.

   Evening grosbeak (Zo["o]l.), an American singing bird ( Coccothraustes vespertina) having a very large bill. Its color is olivaceous, with the crown, wings, and tail black, and the under tail coverts yellow. So called because it sings in the evening.

   Evening primrose. See under Primrose.

   The evening star, the bright star of early evening in the western sky, soon passing below the horizon; specifically, the planet Venus; -- called also Vesper and Hesperus. During portions of the year, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are also evening stars. See Morning Star.

late 14c., poetic for "the evening star," from Latin Hesperus, from Greek hesperos (aster) "western (star)," from PIE *wes-pero- "evening, night" (see vesper). Hence also Hesperides (1590s), from Greek, "daughters of the West," the nymphs (variously numbered but originally three) who tended the garden with the golden apples. Their name has been mistakenly transferred to the garden itself.\n\nThe Hesperides were daughters of Atlas, an enormous giant, who, as the ancients believed, stood upon the western confines of the earth, and supported the heavens on his shoulders. Their mother was Hesperis, a personification of the "region of the West," where the sun continued to shine after he had set on Greece, and where, as travellers told, was an abundance of choice delicious fruits, which could only have been produced by a special divine influence. The Gardens of the Hesperides with the golden apples were believed to exist in some island in the ocean, or, as it was sometimes thought, in the islands on the north or west coast of Africa. They were far-famed in antiquity; for it was there that springs of nectar flowed by the couch of Zeus, and there that the earth displayed the rarest blessings of the gods; it was another Eden. As knowledge increased with regard to western lands, it became necessary to move this paradise farther and farther out into the Western Ocean.

[Alexander Murray, "Manual of Mythology," 1888]

In Greek mythology, Hesperus ( Hesperos) is the Evening Star, the planet Venus in the evening. He is the son of the dawn goddess Eos ( Roman Aurora) and is the half-brother of her other son, Phosphorus (also called Eosphorus; the "Morning Star"). Hesperus' Roman equivalent is Vesper (cf. "evening", "supper", "evening star", "west"). Hesperus' father was Cephalus, a mortal, while Phosphorus' was the star god Astraios.

Hesperus is an early music and folk music ensemble. It was founded by Scott Reiss and Tina Chancey in 1979. While they are particularly noted for playing early European music, American folk music and crossovers between them, they often play music from a variety of other traditions.

Hesperus was a Greek mythological figure.

Hesperus may also refer to:

• Hesperus, Colorado, an unincorporated community in Colorado, US
• Hesperus Ski Area, a ski area near the Colorado town
• Hesperus (ensemble), an early-music ensemble
• HMS Hesperus (H57), a destroyer in the Royal Navy
• Mount Hesperus (Alaska), a mountain in the Revelation Mountains of Alaska
• Hesperus Mountain (Colorado), a mountain in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado
• Hesperus Press Ltd., a British independent publisher
• Hesperus oder 45 Hundposttage, a 1795 novel by the German Romantic writer Jean Paul