Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CYN'IC, a.

Pertaining to the dog-star. The year determined by the heliacal rising of the dog-star (365 days 6 hours) was called the Sothic, Cynic, or Canicular year; that of 365 days, (the civil year,) was called the vague year, from its continually changing in relation to the seasons: the period from one coincidence of the Sothic and civil years to another, (1460 Sothic and 1461 civil years,) was called the Sothic period and the cynic cycle.