ariel1
/ˈɛːrɪəl
/noun
A gazelle found in the Middle East and North Africa.
- Genus Gazella, family Bovidae: possibly the mountain gazelle (G. gazella) or the dorcas gazelle (G. dorcas).
- The dorcas or ariel gazelle is less than 60 centimetres tall.
- We halted at Soojalup for the night: here for the first time I saw the beautiful antelope known by the Arabs as the Ariel (Gazelle Dama).
Origin
Mid 19th century: from Arabic ‘aryal.
Ariel2
/ˈɛːrɪəl/1 Astronomy A satellite of Uranus discovered in 1851, the twelfth closest to the planet and the fourth largest (diameter 1,160 km).
2A series of six American and British satellites devoted to studies of the ionosphere and X-ray astronomy (1962–79).
Origin
The name of a fairy in Shakespeare's The Tempest.