Pleiad

American  

[plee-uhd, plahy-uhd] / ˈpli əd, ˈplaɪ əd /

noun

1. any of the Pleiades.

2. French Pléiade.  a group of seven French poets of the latter half of the 16th century.

3. (usually lowercase) any group of eminent or brilliant persons or things, especially when seven in number.

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Pleiad ¹ British  

/ ˈplaɪəd /

noun

1. one of the Pleiades (stars or daughters of Atlas)

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pleiad ² British  

/ ˈplaɪəd /

noun

1. a brilliant or talented group, esp one with seven members

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Etymology

Origin of pleiad

C16: originally French Pléiade, name given by Pierre de Ronsard to himself and six other poets after a group of Alexandrian Greek poets who were called this after the _Pleiades ¹

Example Sentences

John Rogers' Lost Pleiad shows American sculpture at its most blatantly sentimental.

From Time Magazine Archive

It would begin principally with Spenser and Ben Jonson, who in some measure represented in their land what the Pleiad meant in France, and Opitz and his following in Germany.

From Horace and His Influence by Showerman, Grant

You are the Lost Pleiad of Literature, that's what you are; and a mighty neat phrase that is.

From Margaret Montfort by Barry, Etheldred B. (Etheldred Breeze)

Like the lost Pleiad seen no more below.

From A Wanderer in Venice by Morley, Harry

The famous Silesian, Opitz, "father of German poetry," and his followers, were to Germany what the Pleiad were to France.

From Horace and His Influence by Showerman, Grant