Big Dipper


nounAstronomy.
  1. the group of seven bright stars in Ursa Major resembling a dipper in outline.

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Origin of Big Dipper

1
First recorded in 1865–70
  • Also called Dipper.

Words Nearby Big Dipper

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Big Dipper in a sentence

  • Guided by the Big Dipper, he moved directly toward the place where Jill should be waiting for him.

    Operation Terror | William Fitzgerald Jenkins
  • The Big Dipper swings on such a wide circle that sometimes it drops into the hills or into mist.

    Pluck on the Long Trail | Edwin L. Sabin
  • A good many folks have hurrahed over you and worshipped you—some of 'em, I guess likely, have envied you; but, by the Big Dipper!

    Cy Whittaker's Place | Joseph C. Lincoln
  • Then water was taken from the large vessel and thrown over the stones with a Big Dipper.

    The Land of the Long Night | Paul du Chaillu
  • Some day or other we'll stumble into fifty or a hundred dollars, but by the Big Dipper we'll get it scouting.

    Roy Blakely, Pathfinder | Percy Keese Fitzhugh

British Dictionary definitions for big dipper (1 of 2)

big dipper

noun
  1. (in amusement parks) a narrow railway with open carriages that run swiftly over a route of sharp curves and steep inclines: Also called: roller coaster

British Dictionary definitions for Big Dipper (2 of 2)

Big Dipper

noun
  1. the US and Canadian name for Plough

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for Big Dipper

Big Dipper

  1. An asterism composed of seven stars in the constellation Ursa Major. Four stars form the bowl and three form the handle in the outline of a dipper.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for Big Dipper

Big Dipper

A constellation in the northern sky. The two stars on the far end of the bowl of the dipper point toward the North Star. The Big Dipper is part of the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear).

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.