VENUS

The second nearest planet to the sun; it is peculiar in that its rotation is slow and retrograde (in the opposite sense of the earth and all other planets except uranus); it is visible from earth as an early `morning star' or an `evening star'

Example: "Before it was known that they were the same object the evening star was called venus and the morning star was called lucifer"

Goddess of love; counterpart of greek aphrodite

Type genus of the family veneridae: genus of edible clams with thick oval shells