Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AU-GE'AN, a.

The Augean stable, in Grecian mythology, is represented as belonging to Augcas or Augias, one of the Argonauts, and afterwards king of Elis. This prince kept a great number of oxen, in a stable which was never cleansed, until Hercules undertook the task; a task which it seemed impracticable to execute. Hence the Augean stable came to represent what is deemed impracticable, or a place which has not, for a long time, been cleansed. – Lempriere.