[ad. Gr. καταστερισμός a ‘placing among the stars; Καταστερισμοί was the name of a treatise attributed to Eratosthenes giving the legends of the different constellations’ (Liddell and Scott); (ult.) f. κατά + ἀστήρ star. Cf. ASTERISM.]
a. pl. The treatise mentioned above. b. A constellation.
1803. G. S. Faber, Cabiri, II. 251. The remarkable assemblage of catasterisms … in the neighbourhood of the supposed ship of Jason.
1837. Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sc., I. iv. § 1. 193 (L.). The ‘Catasterisms’ of Eratosthenes. These Catasterisms were an enumeration of 475 of the principal stars, according to the constellations in which they are.
1852. Th. Ross, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., Introd. 17. The catasterisms of their zodiac.
