Saturn \Sa"turn\, n. [L. Saturnus, literally, the sower, fr.
serere, satum, to sow. See Season.]
1. (Roman Myth.) One of the elder and principal deities, the
son of C[oe]lus and Terra (Heaven and Earth), and the
father of Jupiter. The corresponding Greek divinity was
Kro`nos, later CHro`nos, Time.
2. (Astron.) One of the planets of the solar system, next in
magnitude to Jupiter, but more remote from the sun. Its
diameter is seventy thousand miles, its mean distance from
the sun nearly eight hundred and eighty millions of miles,
and its year, or periodical revolution round the sun,
nearly twenty-nine years and a half. It is surrounded by a
remarkable system of rings, and has eight satellites.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) |