[f. Berenice, name of the wife of Ptolemy Euergetes, king of Egypt, c. 248 B.C., whose hair, vowed by her to Venus, was said to have been stolen from the temple of the goddess, and afterwards taken to heaven and placed in a constellation.] The name of a small northern constellation of indistinct stars situated near the tail of Leo; formerly of the southern star Canopus.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 34. Neither hath Italy a sight of Canopus, named also Berenices haire.
1714. Pope, Rape Lock, V. 129. Not Berenice’s locks first rose so bright, The heav’ns bespangling with dishevell’d light.
1868. Lockyer, Heavens (ed. 3), 372. In Berenice’s Hair most of the stars are visible to the naked eye.
