Antlia

noun

Ant·​lia ˈant-lē-ə 

astronomy

: a southern constellation that is visible west of the constellation Centaurus and south of the constellation Hydra and that is represented by the figure of a pump

NGC 2997 is a spiral galaxy roughly 30 million light-years away in the constellation of Antlia (the Air Pump).

—io9, 28 Oct. 2010

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin Antlia (Pneumatica), literally, "(air) pump," going back to Latin, "means of drawing water, treadmill," borrowed from Greek antlía "hold of a ship, bilgewater, reservoir," derivative of ántlos with same sense, perhaps derivative (with an instrumental suffix -tlos dissimilated from *-thlos) of an Indo-European verbal base *h₂en- "draw (water)," whence Hittite han- "draw (water)"

First Known Use

circa 1852, in the meaning defined above

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