Arctic

Arctic means, properly, lying near the constellation of the Bear (Gr. arctos) or Ursa Major (q.v.), and hence, northern. The Arctic Circle is a circle drawn round the North Pole, at a distance from it equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic, or $23\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}^\{\backslash circ\}$. The corresponding circle round the South Pole is the Antarctic Circle. Within each of these circles there is a period of the year when the sun does not set, and another when he is never seen, this latter period being longer the nearer to the pole. The word is also used figuratively to express extreme cold.