Bucen'taur (Ital. bucentoro), the name of the state-galley in which the former Doges of Venice used to sail out every year on Ascension-day, amid great festivities, in order, by sinking a ring into the sea, to wed it in token of perpetual sovereignty. The word signifies a monstrous figure of half bull, half man, such as may originally have been depicted on the vessel. The ceremony was already in use in the 13th century; in 1798 the last Bucentaur, built in 1722-29, was burned by the French, but some portions, spared for their gold work, are still preserved in the arsenal.
Bucen'taur
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 2: Beaugency to Cataract, p. 507
Source scan(s): p. 0518