Her"cu*les (?), n.
1. Gr. Myth.
A hero, fabled to have been the son of Jupiter and Alcmena, and celebrated for great strength, esp. for the accomplishment of his twelve great tasks or "labors."
2. Astron.
A constellation in the northern hemisphere, near Lyra.
Hercules' beetle Zool., any species of Dynastes, an American genus of very large lamellicorn beetles, esp. D. hercules of South America, which grows to a length of six inches. -- Hercules' club. Bot. (a) An ornamental tree of the West Indies (Zanthoxylum Clava-Herculis), of the same genus with the prickly ash. (b) A variety of the common gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris). Its fruit sometimes exceeds five feet in length. (c) The Angelica tree. See under Angelica. -- Hercules powder, an explosive containing nitroglycerin; -- used for blasting.
© Webster 1913.