Drinking Gourd
English
Drinking Gourd
Proper noun
- (astronomy, obsolete, especially US) A bright circumpolar asterism of the northern sky. It is part of the constellation Ursa Major and includes the stars Mizar, Dubhe, and Alkaid. This star formation most commonly went by the name of Drinking Gourd in the American South during the time of slavery.
- Synonyms: Big Dipper, Charles' Wain (obsolete Britain), Northern Ladle (Asia), Northern Waggoner (obsolete), Plough (Britain), Wain (obsolete Britain)
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.