Word of the Day

: March 6, 2008

pleiad

noun PLEE-ad

What It Means

: a group of usually seven illustrious or brilliant persons or things

pleiad in Context

During Wolfgang's brief time at the spa, he met a pleiad of writers and intellectuals who also were there to "take the cure," as they say.

Did You Know?

In Greek mythology, the Pleiades were the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione who were changed into a conspicuous cluster of seven stars in the constellation Taurus. During the Renaissance, French speakers used "Pléiade" (from the singular form of "Pleiades") as the name for an eminent group of seven tragic poets of ancient Alexandria. Later, the French word was also used as a sobriquet for a group of 16th-century French poets led by Pierre de Ronsard. "Pleiad" has been shining its light in English since about 1839.