Dictionary

Balance en · PROPN

Etymology

Calque of Latin Libra.

Meanings

1. The constellation and zodiacal sign Libra.
   • The Balance shows redemption’s need; The Scorpion wounds He must endure; The Archer tells His coming sure; The Goat, His death in sacrifice[.] 1862, [Frances Rolleston], Mazzaroth, or, The Constellations: Part III, London: Rivingtons, page 7:
   • The Balance, we have been told, "marks the equality of the days and nights at the equinoxes." Possibly; but the Balance is just the one sign not truly archaic, and I think we shall find that quite another class of reasons operated in the selection of objects. 1882, Robert Brown, On a German Astronomico-astrological Manuscript, and on the Origin of the Signs of the Zodiac, London: J.B. Nichols and Sons, page 9:
   • Libra, or the Balance holdeth in the Navel, the Reins, and the lower parts of the Womb. 1668, ‘Godfridus’, The Knowledge of Things Unknown, London: G.P. for G. Sawbridge, page 20:

Forms