*pleiad*

n. pl. [ L., fr. Gr. (&unr_;) ] 1. (Myth.) The seven daughters of Atlas and the nymph Pleione, fabled to have been made by Jupiter a constellation in the sky. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Astron.) A group of small stars in the neck of the constellation Taurus; -- called also the seven sisters. Job xxxviii. 31. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Alcyone, the brightest of these, a star of the third magnitude, was considered by Mädler the central point around which our universe is revolving, but such a notion has been thoroughly discounted by modern observations. Only six pleiads are distinctly visible to the naked eye, whence the ancients supposed that a sister had concealed herself out of shame for having loved a mortal, Sisyphus. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]