bear-keeper, the name given by the ancients to the brightest star in the constellation Bootes. In the Authorized Version (Job 9:9; 38:32) it is the rendering of the Hebrew word _'ash_, which probably designates the constellation the Great Bear. This word ('ash) is supposed to be derived from an Arabic word meaning night-watcher, because the Great Bear always revolves about the pole, and to our nothern hemisphere never sets.