Definition of "Venus"

Venus rises on the 1st day 1/4 to 5 a.m., and 4h. 25m. a.m. on the last day. [...] She is now beginning to move northward. [...]

The Illustrated London Almanack 1867, London, page 45

Their figures are universally models for brunette Venuses, and their feet arch like rainbows, and are Cinderellian in size.

1888 June 2, “Senoritas of Brazil. [Chicago Mail.]”, in The Cincinnati Enquirer, volume XLVI, number 154, page 13, column 3

Immoderate Venus in excess, as it is a cause, or in defect; so, moderately used, to some parties an only help, a present remedy.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps

CRYSTALS of Venus or of copper, called also vitriol of Venus, is copper reduced into the form of vitriol by spirit of nitre, or by dissolving verdegris in good distilled vinegar, till the acid be saturated; it is very caustic and used to eat off proud flesh. It is also used by painters, and manufacturers, and sold under the name of distilled vinegar. See CHEMISTRY.

1807, A New and Complete Encyclopaedia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Vol III‎, page 48

Another pair of terms which caused some confusion were Spirit of Saturn and Spirit of Venus, names suggesting compounds of lead and copper respectively. Jean Beguin described the preparation from minium and distilled vinegar of a liquid he called burning spirit of Saturn, e cause it was inflammable and he thought it was a compound of lead. Actually the lead takes no part in the reaction and the product of distilling lead acetate is impure acetone. Beguin’s terminology did not go without comment however, for Christopher Glaser later referred to ‘A burning Spirit of Saturn (as it is called) but rather, a Spirit of the Volatile Salt of Vinegar’. Tachenius referred to the product of distillation of copper acetate as ‘pretended spirit of Venus’ because it was really only distilled vinegar - the meaning which Macquer gave to the expression. It is typical of the confusion of terminology in early chemistry that the London Pharmacopoeia of 1721 gave the name Spiritus Veneris to sulphuric acid obtained by the distillation of copper sulphate.

2004, Maurice P. Crosland, Historical Studies in the Language of Chemistry‎, page 89

The association of the heavenly bodies with known metals and also with human organs and destinies goes back to ancient Chaldea, the land of astrologers. In Chaucer’s words: ‘The seven bodies eek, lo hear anon. Sol gold is, and Luna silver we declare; Mars yron, Mercurie is quyksilver; Saturnian leed; and Jubitur is tyn, and Venus coper, by my fathers kyn.’ […] Corresponding names were bestowed upon salts of these metals by the alchemists, and some of them have persisted down to the present day. Some examples are lunar caustic (silver nitrate); vitriol of Venus (copper sulphate); sugar of Saturn (lead acetate); and vitriol of Mars, or Martial vitriol (ferrous sulphate).

2013, John Read, From Alchemy to Chemistry‎

While the goddess statues obviously did function in a very public, domestic context, there is no evidence that they were androgynyous or that they were the primary cult of importance. There are probably just as many phalli in the Paleolithic as there are Venuses.

1986, Brian Hayden, “Old Europe: sacred matriarchy or complementary opposition?”, in Anthony Bonanno, editor, Archaeology and Fertility Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean: Papers Presented at the First International Conference on Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean, University of Malta, 2–5 September 1985, Amsterdam: B.R. Grüner Publishing Co., section I (Prehistory), page 23

However, a number of well-crafted studies in recent years have forcefully questioned—and perhaps refuted—the view that the Venuses were simply or solely goddesses.

1990, D. Bruce Dickson, “An Interpretation”, in The Dawn of Belief: Religion in the Upper Paleolithic of Southwestern Europe, Tucson, Ariz.: The University of Arizona Press, published 1996, page 211

Her proportions, the stylistic elements, the choice of anatomical elements represented are characteristic of the Aurignacian or Gravettian Venuses, known especially from the statuary of Central and Eastern Europe.

2016, Jean Clottes, “Perceptions of the World, Functions of the Art, and the Artists”, in Oliver Y. Martin, Robert D. Martin, transl., What Is Paleolithic Art?: Cave Paintings and the Dawn of Human Creativity, Chicago, Ill., London: The University of Chicago Press, page 148