What is "pisces"

Sign \Sign\, n. [F. signe, L. signum; cf. AS. segen, segn, a sign, standard, banner, also fr. L. signum. Cf. Ensign, Resign, Seal a stamp, Signal, Signet.] That by which anything is made known or represented; that which furnishes evidence; a mark; a token; an indication; a proof. Specifically:

1. A remarkable event, considered by the ancients as indicating the will of some deity; a prodigy; an omen.

2. An event considered by the Jews as indicating the divine will, or as manifesting an interposition of the divine power for some special end; a miracle; a wonder.

   Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God.
   --Rom. xv. 19.

   It shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
   --Ex. iv. 8.

3. Something serving to indicate the existence, or preserve the memory, of a thing; a token; a memorial; a monument.

   What time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men, and they became a sign.
   --Num. xxvi. 10.

4. Any symbol or emblem which prefigures, typifles, or represents, an idea; a type; hence, sometimes, a picture.

   The holy symbols, or signs, are not barely significative; but what they represent is as certainly delivered to us as the symbols themselves.
   --Brerewood.

   Saint George of Merry England, the sign of victory.
   --Spenser.

5. A word or a character regarded as the outward manifestation of thought; as, words are the sign of ideas.

6. A motion, an action, or a gesture by which a thought is expressed, or a command or a wish made known.

   They made signs to his father, how he would have him called.
   --Luke i. 62.

7. Hence, one of the gestures of pantomime, or of a language of a signs such as those used by the North American Indians, or those used by the deaf and dumb.

   Note: Educaters of the deaf distinguish between natural signs, which serve for communicating ideas, and methodical, or systematic, signs, adapted for the dictation, or the rendering, of written language, word by word; and thus the signs are to be distinguished from the manual alphabet, by which words are spelled on the fingers.

8. A military emblem carried on a banner or a standard.
   --Milton.

9. A lettered board, or other conspicuous notice, placed upon or before a building, room, shop, or office to advertise the business there transacted, or the name of the person or firm carrying it on; a publicly displayed token or notice.

   The shops were, therefore, distinguished by painted signs, which gave a gay and grotesque aspect to the streets.
   --Macaulay.

10. (Astron.) The twelfth part of the ecliptic or zodiac.

    Note: The signs are reckoned from the point of intersection of the ecliptic and equator at the vernal equinox, and are named, respectively, Aries ([Aries]), Taurus ([Taurus]), Gemini (II), Cancer ([Cancer]), Leo ([Leo]), Virgo ([Virgo]), Libra ([Libra]), Scorpio ([Scorpio]), Sagittarius ([Sagittarius]), Capricornus ([Capricorn]), {Aquarius ([Aquarius]), Pisces ([Pisces]). These names were originally the names of the constellations occupying severally the divisions of the zodiac, by which they are still retained; but, in consequence of the procession of the equinoxes, the signs have, in process of time, become separated about 30 degrees from these constellations, and each of the latter now lies in the sign next in advance, or to the east of the one which bears its name, as the constellation Aries in the sign Taurus, etc.

11. (Alg.) A character indicating the relation of quantities, or an operation performed upon them; as, the sign + (plus); the sign -- (minus); the sign of division /, and the like.

12. (Med.) An objective evidence of disease; that is, one appreciable by some one other than the patient.

    Note: The terms symptom and and sign are often used synonymously; but they may be discriminated. A sign differs from a symptom in that the latter is perceived only by the patient himself. The term sign is often further restricted to the purely local evidences of disease afforded by direct examination of the organs involved, as distinguished from those evidence of general disturbance afforded by observation of the temperature, pulse, etc. In this sense it is often called physical sign.

13. (Mus.) Any character, as a flat, sharp, dot, etc.

14. (Theol.) That which, being external, stands for, or signifies, something internal or spiritual; -- a term used in the Church of England in speaking of an ordinance considered with reference to that which it represents. An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. --Bk. of Common Prayer. Note: See the Table of Arbitrary Signs, p. 1924. Sign manual.

    1. (Eng. Law) The royal signature superscribed at the top of bills of grants and letter patent, which are then sealed with the privy signet or great seal, as the case may be, to complete their validity.

    2. The signature of one's name in one's own handwriting.
       --Craig. Tomlins. Wharton.

       Syn: Token; mark; note; symptom; indication; signal; symbol; type; omen; prognostic; presage; manifestation. See Emblem.

Pisces \Pis"ces\, n. pl. [L. piscis a fish.]

1. (Astron.)

   1. The twelfth sign of the zodiac, marked [pisces] in almanacs.

   2. A zodiacal constellation, including the first point of Aries, which is the vernal equinoctial point; the Fish.

2. (Zo["o]l.) The class of Vertebrata that includes the fishes. The principal divisions are Elasmobranchii, Ganoidei, and Teleostei.

12th sign of the zodiac, late Old English, from Latin pisces, from plural of piscis "a fish," cognate with Gothic fisks, Old English fisc (see fish (n.)). Applied to persons born under this sign from 1924.

Pisces is a constellation of the zodiac. Its name is the Latin plural for fish. It lies between Aquarius to the west and Aries to the east. The ecliptic and the celestial equator intersect within this constellation and in Virgo.

Pisces (♓) (, pis'eez; Ikhthyes) is the twelfth astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the Pisces constellation. It spans the 330° to 360° of the zodiac, between 332.75° and 360° of celestial longitude. Under the tropical zodiac the sun transits this area on average between February 19 and March 20, and under the sidereal zodiac, the sun transits this area between approximately March 13 and April 13. The symbol of the fish is derived from the ichthyocentaurs, who aided Aphrodite when she was born from the sea.

According to some tropical astrologers, the current astrological age is the Age of Pisces, while others maintain that it is the Age of Aquarius.

Pisces may refer to:

• Pisces, an obsolete taxonomic term for fish
• Pisces (astrology), an astrological sign
• Pisces (constellation), a constellation
  • Pisces I (dwarf galaxy), an overdensity of stars in the Milky Way's halo that is situated in the Pisces constellation
  • Pisces I (dwarf galaxy), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way
  • Pisces Dwarf, a satellite galaxy of the Triangulum Galaxy
  • Pisces (Chinese astronomy), the division of the sky in traditional Chinese uranography that lies across the modern constellation Pisces
• PISCES (Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System), a border control database system administered by the United States Department of State
• Pisces (album), a 1961 album by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers
• Pisces (comics), a Marvel Comics character
• Pisces class DSV, a class of three-person research deep-submergence vehicles
• NOAAS Pisces (R 226), an American fisheries and oceanographic research ship in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration since 2009
• OZ-09MMS Pisces, a fictional mecha in the Gundam Wing anime

Pisces is the name of different characters in Marvel Comics.

Pisces is a jazz album by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers. It was recorded between 1961 and 1964, but not issued on Blue Note Records until 1979. More a compilation than an album, all the tracks, except for "It's A Long Way Down", may be found on the Mosaic compilation The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Art Blakey's 1960 Jazz Messengers. Moreover, "Uptight", "Blue Ching" and "Pisces" are included on the CD reissue of The Freedom Rider, whilst "It's a Long Way Down" is featured on the CD reissue of Indestructible. Ultimately, "United" and "Ping Pong" may be found on Roots & Herbs.

The modern constellation Pisces lies across two of the quadrants symbolized by the Black Tortoise of the North (北方玄武, Běi Fāng Xuán Wǔ) and White Tiger of the West (西方白虎, Xī Fāng Bái Hǔ), and Three Enclosures (三垣, Sān Yuán), that divide the sky in traditional Chinese uranography.

The name of the western constellation in modern Chinese is 雙魚座 (shuāng yú zuò), which means "the pair of fish constellation".