See Also: STAR(finance)
eve-star(dictionary)
pop star(dictionary)
one-star(dictionary)
co-star(2)(dictionary)
co-star(1)(dictionary)
Star Up(tourism)
Star(health)
star(1)(dictionary)
five-star(dictionary)

star(1) (iou)



star noun1 & adjective. [stɑ:]
[Old English steorra = Old Frisian stera, Old Saxon sterro (Dutch ster, star), Old High German sterro, from West Germanic sterro, with parallel forms in Old High German sterno (German Stern), Old Norse stjarna, Gothic stairno, from Germanic, from Indo-European base repr. also by Latin stella, Greek aster.]
A. noun.
I.
Any of the many celestial objects appearing as luminous points in the night sky; esp. a fixed star (see FIXED) as opp. to a planet, comet, etc.; Astronomy a large, coherent, roughly spherical gaseous body (such as the sun) which is luminous by virtue of internal nuclear reactions. OE.
W. Cowper Whence the stars; why some are fix'd, And planetary some. Wordsworth Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart. Tolkien The innumerable stars, faint and far. P. Davies This galaxy contains about one hundred billion stars.
b. = LODESTAR 1. poet. L16.
Shakespeare Sonnets Love..is the star to every wand'ring bark.
Any celestial object; a planet, a world. Chiefly poet. ME.
Dickens She wondered what star was destined for her habitation.
A planet, constellation, etc., regarded as influencing or reflecting human affairs; (with possess. adjective) the planet or constellation which influences a person's fortunes, character, etc., through its position at the moment of his or her birth; a person's destiny, temperament, etc., viewed as determined in this way. Also, (in pl.) a horoscope or set of horoscopes published in a newspaper, magazine, etc. ME.
Shakespeare Twelfth Night In my stars I am above thee. Horace Walpole It costs, the stars know what! D. Hewett Me stars said it was me lucky week. N. Freeling Superstitious. Went in for stars and horoscopes. D. Norden Telemann's star was in the ascendant.
A small brightly burning piece of pyrotechnic material emitted by a firework, rocket, etc. M17.
fig. A famous or brilliant person or (less usu.) thing; a celebrity; esp. a famous actor or other entertainer; the principal or most prominent performer in a play, show, film, etc. E19.
G. B. Shaw You still want to be a circus star. Nature A galaxy of scientific stars, including 14 Nobel Prizewinners. R. Jaffe Emma..was the star of her gymnastics class. T. Barr Only the audience can determine who is a star. J. Cox Guess who's the star of all the plants on our property?
II.
A starfish or similarly star-shaped echinoderm. Usu. with modifying word. Earliest as sea-star. OE.
An image or figure of a star, conventionally represented by a number of rays diverging from a centre or by a geometrical figure with a number of radiating points; a printed mark of this form, an asterisk. ME.
T. Pynchon Drew a great five-pointed star on the pavement.
b. spec. An asterisk or other star-shaped mark indicating distinction, excellence, or (usu. by the number of such marks) rank in a grading system. M19.
E. M. Forster Giotto..has painted two frescoes...That is why Baedeker gives the place a star. Homes & Gardens Two stars indicate..10 deg. F...and frozen food will last for up to four weeks.
c. A (star-shaped) badge of rank or status. L19.
C. J. Tolley I passed on..with a second lieutenant's star in that regiment.
A white spot or patch on the forehead of a horse etc. LME.
Tennyson She Kiss'd the white star upon his noble front.
A (natural or man-made) object or structure resembling a star; a star-shaped mark or blemish. M17.
Evelyn A grove of tall elmes cutt into a starr, every ray being a walk. C. J. Lever An ominous-looking star in the looking-glass bore witness to the bullet.
b. Metallurgy. A starlike crystalline pattern which appears on the surface of antimony during refining. M17.
c. An ornament representing a star, worn as part of the insignia of an order, or as a military decoration; a military decoration with a medal of this kind. E18.
Swift The fools with stars and garters.
d. Electrical Engineering. A set of windings arranged in a star connection. Also called wye. E20.
e. Particle Physics. A photographic image consisting of a number of lines emanating from a central point, representing the paths of secondary particles produced by the impact of a primary. M20.
f. In full star network. A data or communication network in which all terminals are independently connected to one central unit. L20.
ellipt. A star prisoner (see below). colloq. M19.
b. attrib. or as adjective. (Of a person) that is a star (sense A.5 above); outstanding, particularly brilliant; of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a star or stars. M19.
N. Coward He must possess..what is described in the theatre as 'star quality'. Sport Star players..allowed to drift away from..Swansea Town. J. Gardner You're playing the star role. G. Swift Tom..is a star pupil, who wins a scholarship.
Phrases: BINARY star. blazing star: see BLAZING 1. double star: see DOUBLE adjective & adverb. EVENING star. falling star: see FALLING ppl adjective. film star: see FILM noun. flare star: see FLARE noun1. hitch one's wagon to a star: see HITCH verb. lone star: see LONE adjective & adverb. MORNING STAR. MOVIE star. multiple star: see MULTIPLE adjective. my stars! expr. astonishment. NEBULOUS star. NEUTRON star. new star: see NEW adjective. North Star: see NORTH. polar star: see POLAR adjective. pop star: see POP adjective. radio star: see RADIO noun. red star: see RED adjective. see stars colloq. see light before one's eyes as a result of a blow on the head. seven stars: see SEVEN adjective. Silver Star (medal): see SILVER noun & adjective. star of Bethlehem any of various plants with starry, usu. greenish-white, flowers constituting the genus Ornithogalum, of the lily family, esp. O. umbellatum, a plant of southern Europe freq. grown for ornament; yellow star of Bethlehem, a related, early flowering woodland plant, Gagea lutea, with yellow green-streaked flowers. Star of David a six-pointed figure consisting of two interlaced equilateral triangles, used as a Jewish and Israeli symbol. Stars and Bars Hist. the flag of the Confederate States of the US. Stars and Stripes the national flag of the US. thank one's lucky stars, thank one's stars give thanks to fortune, providence, etc.; count oneself fortunate. wandering star: see WANDERING ppl adjective.
Comb.: star-anise a small Chinese evergreen tree, Illicium verum (family Illiciaceae), so called from the stellate arrangement of the carpels; the oil or spice obtained from the unripe fruit of this tree; star-apple W. Indies the fruit of a tropical evergreen tree, Chrysophyllum cainito (family Sapotaceae), which resembles a large purple apple and whose core forms a marked star shape in cross-section; the tree bearing this fruit (also star-apple tree); star atlas a series of charts showing the positions of the stars etc. on the celestial sphere; star-beam poet. a ray of starlight; star-blasting the pernicious influence of malign stars; star-bright adjective (a) poet. bright as a star; bright with stars; (b) (of wine, cider) perfectly clear and free from sediment; starburst (a) an explosion of a star or stars; an explosion producing an appearance of stars; starburst galaxy, an infrared-emitting galaxy in which there is thought to be a very high rate of star formation; (b) a camera lens attachment which causes a bright light source to appear with starlike rays; the effect so produced; star catalogue a list of stars with their position, magnitude, etc.; Star Chamber [name of the apartment in the palace of Westminster in which the king's council sat] (a) Hist. (more fully Court of Star Chamber) a court of civil and criminal jurisdiction in England, developed in the late 15th cent. from the judicial sittings of the King's Council and abolished in 1641, noted for its arbitrary and oppressive procedure; (b) an arbitrary or oppressive tribunal; star chart: showing the stars in a certain portion of the sky; star cloud a region where stars appear to be especially numerous and close together; star connection Electrical Engineering an arrangement in a polyphase system in motors etc. by which one end of each phase winding is connected to a common point; star coral any of various stony corals of the genus Orbicella and related genera, in which the polyp body cavity is divided by radial septa; star-crossed adjective thwarted by a malign star, ill-fated; star-cucumber a N. American gourd, Sicyos angulatus; star-cut adjective (of a diamond) cut with star-facets; star-delta adjective (Electrical Engineering) designating or pertaining to the use of star connection when an induction motor is started with a change to delta connection for continuous running; star drag Angling an adjustable tension device (with a star-shaped adjusting nut) in a reel; star-facet each of the eight small triangular facets which surround the table of a brilliant; star-flower any of various plants with starlike flowers, esp. a N. American chickweed wintergreen, Trientalis borealis; star fruit (a) a rare plant of ponds, Damasonium alisma, allied to the water plantain, with carpels spreading like a star; (b) the fruit of the carambola, Averrhoa carambola, which is star-shaped in cross-section; star-grass any of various grasslike plants with stellate flowers or stellate arrangement of leaves, esp. (US) Hypoxis hirsuta (family Amaryllidaceae) and the blazing star or colic-root, Aletris farinosa; (see also STAR noun2); star-lighted adjective starlit; star-map: showing the apparent positions of stars in a region of the sky; star network: see sense A.9f above; star-nosed mole a mole, Condylura cristata, which is native to north-eastern N. America and has a number of fleshy projections around its mouth; also called radiated mole; star prisoner slang in Britain, a convict serving a first prison sentence; star-proof adjective (poet.) impervious to starlight; starquake Astronomy a sudden change of shape or structure undergone by a neutron star, pulsar, etc.; star ruby, star sapphire an opalescent ruby, sapphire, with a six-rayed asterism; starscape a view or prospect of a sky filled with stars; star shell a shell which on bursting releases a bright flare or flares to illuminate enemy positions at night; star-shine starlight; starship (a) the southern constellation Argo; (b) Science Fiction a large manned spacecraft designed for interstellar travel; star-shot (obsolete exc. dial.) nostoc; star sign = sign of the ZODIAC; star-spangled adjective spangled with stars; Star-Spangled Banner (a) rhet. the national flag of the USA, the Stars and Stripes; (b) (the name of) the US national anthem; star-stone (a) a pentagonal segment of the stem of a fossil crinoid; (b) a precious stone which exhibits asterism; a star sapphire or star ruby; star stream Astronomy a systematic drift of stars in the same general direction within the Galaxy; starstruck adjective greatly fascinated or impressed by stars and stardom; star-studded containing or covered with many stars; esp. featuring many famous performers; star system (a) the practice of promoting stars in leading roles in films etc.; (b) a large structured collection of stars, a galaxy; star-thistle any of several knapweeds with radiating spines on the involucral bracts, esp. Centaurea calcitrapa and (more fully yellow star-thistle) St Barnaby's thistle, C. solstitialis; star-tracker an automatic navigational device for spacecraft etc. which maintains a fixed orientation relative to a given star; star tulip any of certain mariposa lilies with erect star-shaped flowers, e.g. Calochortus nudus; star turn the principal or most important item in an entertainment or performance; star vehicle a play or film designed especially to show off the talents of a particular star; Star Wars [title of a popular science-fiction film (1977)] aggression and defence in space; colloq. = Strategic Defense Initiative s.v. STRATEGIC adjective; star-wheel a gear-wheel with radial projections or teeth.
stardom noun the status of a celebrity or star; the world of stars: M19.
starful adjective (poet. rare) full of stars E17.
starless adjective having no visible star; destitute of stars or starlight: LME.
starlike adjective & adverb (a) adjective like a star; shining like a star; shaped like a conventional star, stellate; (b) adverb (poet.) in the manner of a star: L16.
starward adverb & adjective (moving or directed) towards the stars M19.