​CENTAUR, a mythical creature, half man, half horse, said to have sprung from the union of Ixion and a Cloud; the most celebrated was Chiron. They inhabited Thessaly, and were also called Hippocentaurs. The myth probably arose from some herdsman on horseback, who, being seen by individuals unacquainted with the uses of the horse, was supposed to form, together with his steed, one integral body.

It is also the name of a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere. ​