| 释义 |
▪ I. star, n.1|stɑː(r)|
Forms: 1 steorra, stiorra, Northumb. stearra, sterra, 2–3 steore, storre, 2–4 steorre, 2–6 sterre, 3 stor, sturre, 4–6 stere, 5–7 stare, 6 ster, 6–7 starr(e, 6– star.
[Com. WGer.: OE. steorra wk. masc. corresponds to OFris. stera (NFris. stear, stêar, stiar), OS. sterro (MLG. sterre), MDu. sterre, starre (mod.Du. ster, star fem.), OHG. sterro (MHG. sterre):—OTeut. type *sterron-, f. *ster- cogn. w. L. stella (:—*ster-la), Gr. ἀ-στερ-, ἀστήρ, ἄ-στρ-ον, Cornish, Bret. steren, Welsh seren (pl. sêr), Sk. star, Zend stare. A parallel OTeut. formation, *sternōn- fem. (also -non- masc.), with suffix as in *sunnōn- sun n.1, is represented in several Teut. langs., and was adopted from ON. into northern Eng. and Sc. dialects: see stern n.2]
I.
1. a. Any one of the many celestial bodies appearing as luminous points in the night sky. Now usually restricted (in scientific and to some extent in popular language), to the fixed stars as distinguished from planets (exc. in evening-star, morning star), comets, and meteors (exc. in falling star, shooting star). See also seven stars.
c825Vesp. Ps. cxlviii. 3 Herᵹað hine alle steorran & leht. O.E. Chron. an. 892, Þy ilcan ᵹeare..æteowde se steorra þe mon on boclæden hæt cometa, same men cweþaþ on Englisc þæt hit sie feaxede steorra. c1200Moral Ode 279 (Trin. Coll. MS.) Nafre sunne þar ne sineð ne mone ne storre. c1205Lay. 17870 Þe steorre is ihate a latin comete. c1340Ayenb. 164 And þus him þingþ al þe wordle lite, ase a sterre hit þincþ to ous. c1386Chaucer Prol. 268 His eyen twynkled in his heed aryght As doon the sterres in the frosty nyght. c1449Pecock Repr. ii. xvi. 242 The vij. planetis..and..the fix sterris. 1588Kyd Househ. Philos. Wks. (1901) 262 Euen as the Moone and the Starres receiue light by participation with the sunne. 1784Cowper Task iii. 158 And tell us whence the stars; why some are fix'd, And planetary some. 1813W. Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 432 It is well known to astronomers, that new stars have suddenly appeared with a brilliancy exceeding that of Jupiter. 1842Penny Cycl. XXII. 447/1 We distinguish the stars from the planets in much the same way as our ancestors did before us. 1892Tennyson Death Œnone 82 And the dream Wail'd in her, when she woke beneath the stars.
b. In proverbial phrases, similes, etc.
c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 164 Ðeos wyrt scineð on nihte swilce steorra on heofone. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 153 No man hit ne mihte tellen, nan more þene men muȝen tellen þe sterres on heuene. a1225St. Marher. 9 Ant his twa ehnen steappre þene steorren. c1381Chaucer Parl. Foules 595 There been mo sterris god wot than a payre. c1450Mirk's Festial 17 And at yche ‘Aue’ scho set a rose yn þe garlond þat schon as bryght as a sterre. 1513More Rich. III in Grafton's Chron. (1568) 807 They extolled and praysed him farre aboue the starres. 1581A. Hall Iliad ii. 18 Casting how he Achilles fame vnto the starres might raise. 1596Spenser F.Q. iv. xi. 53 More eath it were for mortall wight To tell the sands, or count the starres on hye. 1754Richardson Grandison VII. iii. 11 Since she has already one foot among the stars, and can look down with pity..on all those who [etc.]. 1782H. Cowley Bold Stroke for Husband ii. ii, To take up all the fine apartments, and send poor little Livy to lodge next the stars. 1799Wordsw. ‘She dwelt’ 7 Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky. 1802― Sonn. to Liberty i. xiv. 9 Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart.
c. With reference to the pagan belief that the souls of illustrious persons after death appear as new stars in the heavens.
c1384Chaucer H. Fame 599 For Ioues ys not ther aboute..To make of the as yet a sterre. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. i. 55 A farre more glorious Starre thy Soule will make, Then Iulius Cæsar. 1608― Per. v. iii. 79 Heauens make a Starre of him! 1598T. Rogers Celest. Elegies C 4 in Lamport Garl. (Roxb.), She to a starre is metamorphosed And with the golden Twinns in heauen enstald.
d. poet. = lodestar, pole-star.
1599Shakes. Much Ado iii. iv. 58 Well, and you be not turn'd Turke, there's no more sayling by the starre. c1600― Sonn. cxvi. 7 Loue..is the star to euery wandring barke. 1663Cowley Ess. vii. Wks. (1906) 441 [Gold] The Ensign 'tis at Land, and 'tis the Seamans Star.
e. transf. (Chiefly in colloq. phr.: see quot. 1891.)
1609Heywood Brit. Troy vii. lxxv. 157 Those that but late incompast him about, And with their steele strooke Stars out of his Crest. 1839Spirit of Times 16 Nov. 434/1 She fetched me a slap in the face that made me see stars. 1891Century Dict. s.v. Star, To see stars, to have a sensation as of flashes of light, produced by a sudden jarring of the head, as by a direct blow. 1894Sir J. D. Astley Fifty Yrs. Life I. 142 Quicker than thought, in comes his right, and if you only see stars you are pretty lucky. 1924Galsworthy White Monkey ii. xi. 206 ‘Per ardua ad astra,’ ‘Through hard knocks we shall see stars.’ 1966D. Varaday Gara-Yaka's Domain xiv. 160 Had it been daylight I would still have seen the stars caused by the searing pain I felt in my thumb! 1977Cleethorpes News 27 May 32/3 Already three fighters have seen stars as they have been sent crashing to the canvas.
2. In extended sense, any one of the heavenly bodies, including the sun and moon; sometimes in pl. as a vague designation for the abode of departed spirits; so occas. this star, the earth regarded along with other ‘stars’ as a place of habitation. Chiefly poet.; cf. L. sīdus.
diurnal star, star of day, star of noon: the sun.
a1225Leg. Kath. 714, & mid tet ilke step up, & steah to þe steorren. a1240Ureisun in Lamb. Hom. 187 Ne wene na mon to stihen wið este to þe steorren. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxxi. (Eugenia) 252 Þai..sad þat goddis had hir tane & ymang þe sterris with hir gane. 1602Dolman La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1618) iii. 799 There are some [trees] which naturally follow the Sunne,..hauing a sympathy and secret inclination to this Starre. 1616R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) 113 The blazing bright beamd starre, Sol. 1667Milton P.L. x. 1071 Ere this diurnal Starr Leave cold the Night. 1697J. Sergeant Solid Philos. 118 Providence has left us no Means to know what is done in the Moon, or other Stars. 1737Gentl. Mag. VII. 63/1 He adds, that they see the Sun at Midnight,..And as that Star [etc.]. 1742Young Nt. Th. ix. 1683 Worlds conceal'd by day Behind the proud and envious star of noon! 1808Macaulay in Trevelyan Life & Lett. (1880) I. 32 The star of day had reached the West. 1841Dickens Barn. Rudge ix, Perhaps she wondered what star was destined for her habitation when she had run her little course below. 1870R. S. Hawker in C. E. Byles Life (1905) 588 No, my fate is fixed. Here on this Star nothing of any palm: it is reserved for another Sphere, a far-away world.
3. a. In Astrology, used of the planets and zodiacal constellations as supposed to influence human affairs. one's star or stars: the planet or constellation which, by its position at the moment of a person's birth, sways his destinies, moulds his temperament, etc. Now often in metaphorical quasi-adoption of astrological beliefs.
c1250Owl & Night. 1321 Hwat constu, wrecche þing, of storre? 1375Barbour Bruce iv. 675 As it wes vounderfull, perfay, How ony man throu steris may Knaw the thingis that ar to cum. 14..Life St. Bridget in Myrr. our Ladye p. xlix, The sykenes of this childe is nat of the sterres. 1542Boorde Dyetary iii. (1870) 236 Many thynges doth infect..the ayre, as the influence of sondry sterres. 1601Shakes. All's Well i. i. 205 You were borne vnder a charitable starre. 1601― Jul. C. i. ii. 140 The fault (deere Brutus) is not in our Starres, But in our Selues, that we are vnderlings. 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 19 What unlucky Star brought him to Constantinople. 1698[W. King] Sorbiere's Journ. Lond. 25 There are people that can pick Pockets, and afterwards by Consulting the Stars, tell you who it was that did it. 1726Swift Gulliver ii. i, My good star would have it that he appeared pleased with my voice. 1728–46Thomson Spring 1113 But happy they..Whom gentler stars unite. 1831Lytton Godolphin xxvi, In a word, he was a reader of the stars. Ibid., As the stars (which night had been spent in reading) began to wink and fade. 1845S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 477 Suleiman recognized the ascendancy of the star of his rival. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. x. 308 Another segment of my learning..might have had better consequence than ever came of it, had the stars so pleased. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. lxxx. III. 51 It is natural for them to believe in their star.
b. In phrases and adjurations as to thank, bless, curse one's stars; my stars! usually a trivial expression of astonishment; to thank (or praise) one's lucky stars: see lucky a. 3; also † good stars! and jocularly my stars and garters! (cf. 8).
a1593Marlowe Edw. II, iv. vi, O my starres! Why do you lowre vnkindly on a king? 1599B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. i. iii, I thanke my Starres for it. 1609Dekker Gull's Horn-bk. v. 23 That you are (thankes to your starres) in mightie credit. 1686W. de Britaine Hum. Prud. xxii. 105, I am not (I bless my Stars) disturbed at any thing. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 37 He has oft⁓times thank'd his good Stars for it. 1711M. Henry Hope & Fear Balanced 16 Then 'twill be Folly to curse your Stars (as some profanely speak). 1728Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. iii. i. 51 My Stars! and you would really live in London half the Year, to be sober in it? 1760H. Walpole Let. to Mann 24 May, It costs, the stars know what! 1782F. Burney Cecilia vii. ix, ‘Your dog!’ cried Morrice, looking aghast, ‘good stars! I never thought of him!’ 1807–8W. Irving Salmag. i. (1860) 19, I..blessed my stars that I was a bachelor. 1819M. Wilmot Let. 24 Oct. (1935) 24 O ye stars and garters how often do I wish for Mary and a green Lawn!!! 1841Dickens Barn. Rudge xxii, My stars, Simmun!.. You frighten me to death! 1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (ed. 2) I. 213 My stars and garters! what sort of man is this? 1865J. Hatton Bitter Sweets xiv, You may thank your stars, my lad, that I followed Master Barns to-night. 1913[see bobby-dazzler]. 1931F. L. Allen Only Yesterday ix. 237 In any café in Paris one might find an American expatriate thanking his stars that he was free from standardization at last. 1976M. Millar Ask for me Tomorrow (1977) ix. 77 My stars, you needn't shout.
c. transf. A person's fortune, rank, or destiny, disposition or temperament, viewed as determined by the stars.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 156 In my stars I am aboue thee, but be not affraid of greatnesse. 1602― Ham. ii. ii. 141 Lord Hamlet is a Prince out of thy Starre. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §13, I was not borne unto riches, neither is it I thinke my Starre to be wealthy. 1646Buck Rich. III, i. 4 Geoffry Plantagenet..had so amorous a Star, That Philippe le Grosse..suspected him for too familiar commerce with his bed.
4. In various figurative and similative contexts.
Star of the sea = Stella maris, a title given to the Virgin Mary; cf. sea-star 1.
c1230Hali Meid. 11 Meidenhad is te steorre þat, beo ha eanes of þe east igan adun to þe west, neauer eft ne ariseð ha. a1400Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 735/1 Heil, sterre of þe See so briht! 1538Starkey England i. 12 Where fyrst we schal se the gudly cytes, castellys, and townys..pleasauntly set as they were sterrys apon erthe. 1631T. Adams in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 148 Our learned and bright shining star Mr. Holsworth. 1653Apol. for Goodwin 5 The light of Nature in his Astronomy, is a Star of the first magnitude. 1697Dryden æneis Ded. (b) 1 b, These are the single Stars which are sprinkled through the æneis: But there are whole Constellations of them in the Fifth Book. 1769Gray Installation Ode 93 The Star of Brunswick smiles serene, And gilds the horrors of the deep. 1833Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Imagin. Faculty, Quixote—the errant Star of Knighthood, made more tender by eclipse. 1845R. W. Hamilton Pop. Educ. vii. (ed. 2) 174 Education is the star of their hope and their guidance. That star is fixed. 1889Gretton Memory's Harkback 129, I suppose he was not reckoned among the stars of greater magnitude, but he was very full of light.
5. fig. A person of brilliant reputation or talents.
a. An actor, singer, etc. of exceptional celebrity, or one whose name is prominently advertised as a special attraction to the public. film star: see film n. 7 c; movie star: see movie b. orig. Theatr.
[1779Warner in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 30 The little stars, who hid their diminished rays in his [Garrick's] presence, begin to abuse him. ]1824Compl. Hist. Murder Mr. Weare 219 Carter..was at a loss for a star in the pugilistic hemisphere to produce him a crowded house. 1827Edin. Weekly Jrnl. 28 Feb. in Scott's Chron. Canongate Introd. App., He had hitherto been speaking of what, in theatrical language, was called stars. 1833Motley Corr. (1889) I. ii. 31 The great tragedy star of Berlin and of Germany, Devrient, is dead. 1864C. Knight Passages Work. Life I. v. 218 Our theatre was..commodious; but the manager could not draw audiences without stars. 1883Athenæum 8 Sept. 313/1 A ballad concert in which the ‘stars’ took part. 1919G. B. Shaw Annajanska in Heartbreak House 265 You still want to be a circus star. 1941Picturegoer & Film Weekly 6 Sept. 3/1 Barbara Mullen is no longer un⁓known. It would be an exaggeration to say Jeannie makes her a star. It needs more than one part to do that. 1946R.A.F. Jrnl. May 175 The British Forces Network finds new stars of radio from the ranks of the R.A.F. 1976Oxf. Compan. Film 468/2 Hayley..has been the more prominent in films, scoring a success as a teenage star, notably in Tiger Bay.
b. gen. (Chiefly colloq.) One who ‘shines’ in society, or is distinguished in some branch of art, industry, science, etc.
1829G. Griffin Collegians II. xx. 103 Anne Chute..was, beyond all competition, the star of the evening. 1850S. G. Osborne Glean. 228, I have attended many such meetings in England, to meet English Agricultural stars. 1876Gladstone Glean. (1879) 266 The historian, the poet, the great social star. 1880R. Broughton Sec. Th. ii. vii, A tiny foreign princekin who is the star and lion of the evening. 1881C. E. Pascoe Everyday Life in our Public Schools 218 The Torpid game is reserved as a sphere for young ‘stars’ who come up to Harrow with a reputation. 1973Art Internat. Mar. 55/1 George Washington Wilson's The Brig and Cliffs, Filey, From the North Landing..was for me the star of the group [of photographs]. 1975Nature 16 Oct. 531/3 It was supported by a galaxy of scientific stars, including 14 Nobel Prizewinners.
c. Sport. An outstanding performer.
1916[see clay court s.v. clay n. 9]. 1928E. O'Neill Strange Interlude vi. 210 I'm going to start in training him..so he'll be a crack athlete when he goes to college... I want him to..be a bigger star than Gordon ever was. 1930Sun (Baltimore) 26 Dec. 11/7 No player is now on the field more than half of that, so even a star averages only about a half hour's real work throughout the year. 1964G. C. Kunzle Parallel Bars ix. 407 The content of five difficulties and one superior difficulty was more than most international stars had at that time. 1979R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) iii. iii. 318 Emma..was the star of her gymnastics class.
6. a. An image or figure of a star.
It is conventionally represented by a number of rays diverging from a central point or circle; or by a geometrical figure of five or more radiating points, such as is formed by producing the sides of a pentagon, hexagon, etc.
13..King Alis. 134 Of gold he made a table, Al ful of steorren, saun fable. c1400Wycliffite Bible Lev. xi. 30 marg., Stellio, that is, a worme peyntid as with sterris. 1431Rec. St. Mary at Hill 26 A hole vestement of blu veluet with sterres & mones of golde. 1538in Archæologia XLIII. 215, i cope of oulde redd velvett spotted wyth sters. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vii. 74 The Armour that I saw in your Tent to night, are those Starres or Sunnes vpon it? 1705Addison Italy, Ferrara 124 A Circle of Stars glew'd to the Canvas over the Head of the Figure [of the Virgin]. 1795Denne in Archæologia XII. 114 A star of eight points within a double circle, the device of John Tate, supposed to have been the first Paper-maker in England. 1818Art Bookbinding 31 Stamped with a star or any device, to fancy. 1846A. Soyer Cookery 424 When partly set form a rosette or star upon each, with fillets of hard-boiled white of eggs and truffles. 1890Mounteney-Jephson Emin Pasha 290 His own flag with the crescent and three stars,..was flying at the fore. 1899E. T. Masters Bk. Stitches 100 Small rings or stars, for sprinkling over a background,..may be very successfully made in buttonhole stitch.
b. stars and stripes; the popular name for the United States flag. stars and bars, the flag of the Confederate States.
The American flag, when first adopted by Congress (14th June 1777), contained 13 stripes and 13 stars, representing the 13 States of the Union. It now contains 13 stripes and 50 stars.
1782E. Watson Men & Times Revol. (1861) 203 He..attached to the ship the stars and stripes. 1830Debates in Congress 24 Feb. 193 This alone can account..for the exhortation against enlistments, against joining the stars and stripes of their country. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xiv. 32 We..ran the stars and stripes up to the peak. 1859Thackeray Virgin. lxix. II. 171 All accents are pretty from pretty lips, and who shall set the standard up? Shall it be a rose, or a thistle, or a shamrock, or a star and stripe? 1863Whittier Barbara Frietchie 13 Forty flags with their silver stars, Forty flags with their crimson bars.
c. A badge of rank, authority, or military service.
1890[see pack v.1 9 a]. 1895Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 296/3 Policemen's regulation rubber coats..pocket for billy and shield for star. 1908W. H. Davies Autobiogr. Super-Tramp 48 With that the marshal of the town stood before the open door, showing the star of his authority on his dark clothes. 1924C. J. Tolley Mod. Golfer 6, I passed on from there in '16 with a second lieutenant's star in that regiment. 1942[see Sam Browne]. 1946W. S. Churchill Victory 143 Two new stars for operations in the East will also mark the service of those who have gone out..to finish the war against the Japanese. 1977R. Ludlum Chancellor Manuscript xxix. 312 My permanent rank is brigadier⁓general. I will undoubtedly receive my second star in June.
d. A small star of coloured paper, awarded to a (usu. primary) schoolchild for a good piece of work. (The star is often stuck alongside the work in an exercise book, or displayed on a wall-chart.)
1977Cleethorpes News 6 May 17/2 The books were all very neat and dotted with gold stars on nearly every page. The stars are worth house points which build up over the term. 1978Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 351/1 If they get 80 per cent or over, they get a blue star, 90 per cent or over a gold star. And ten lessons with stars will win them a prize.
7. Pyrotechny. A small piece of combustible composition, used in rockets, mines, etc., which as seen burning high in the air resembles a star.
1634J. B[ate] Myst. Nat. ii. 57 [Of Fire-works.] Such as operate in the ayre, as Rockets,..Stars, [etc.]. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xiii. 89 When you have divers Rockets,..let one be with a Report, another with Starrs, another with Golden Hair or Rain. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XV. 688/1 (Pyrotechny) If the sparks, which are called stars, or pinks, come out in clusters..it is a sign of its being good. Ibid. 702/2 Strung stars..Tailed stars..Drove stars. 1842Penny Cycl. XX. 54/1 (Rocket) A conical case containing the composition for producing the explosions or stars of light which constitute the signal. 1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 139/2 The variety of stars and colours observed in fireworks is formed principally of metallic filings.
b. A kind of match for lighting cigars.
1863Abel in Lond. etc. Phil. Mag. Nov. 358 Cigar lights (known as Vesuvians, Etnas, Stars, &c.).
8. An ornament, usually of precious metal, representing a star, worn as part of the insignia of an order of knighthood, or as a military decoration. Also occas. applied to the holder or wearer of this decoration.
1712–14Pope Rape Lock i. 85 While Peers, and Dukes, and all their sweeping train, And Garters, Stars, and Coronets appear. 1731Swift Poems, On his Death 323 He..Despised the fools with stars and garters, So often seen caressing Chartres. 1795Burns For a' that iii, For a' that, and a' that, His ribband, star, and a' that. 1844Disraeli Coningsby iii. ii, A Field Marshal covered with stars? 1862Thackeray Philip i, Lord Ascot in his star and ribbon..walked with his arm in the doctor's into chapel. 1901Essex Weekly News 15 Mar. 2/4 Deceased..wore the Egyptian medal and the Khedive's star.
9. a. A natural object resembling or likened to a star; e.g. the open corolla (or corolla and disk) of a flower.
a1635Randolph Muse's Looking-Gl. iv. i, Nature adornes The Peacocks taile with starres. 1777Cavallo Electricity 207 The Star and Pencil of electric Light. 1784Cowper Task vi. 176 [Jasmine] The bright profusion of her scatter'd stars. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 364 Leaves upright..those at the end forming a star. 1815Scott Guy M. xxvi, Now the light diminished to a distant star that seemed to twinkle on the waters. 1851Meredith Love in Valley xiv, Jasmine winds the porch with stars two and three. 1859Tennyson Enid 313 His charger trampling many a prickly star Of sprouted thistle on the broken stones. 1890Bridges Shorter Poems ii. viii. ii, From hour to hour unfold A thousand buds and beads In stars and cups of gold.
b. A spot or patch of white hair on the forehead of a horse or ox.
c1380Sir Ferumb. 3925 Hys hors..bar a sterre on his forhed. 1390Gower Conf. II. 47 Thus was the hors in sori plit, Bot for al that a sterre whit Amiddes in the front he had. 1607Markham Caval. i. (1617) 22 The pure black, with white star, white foote, or white rach. 1676Lond. Gaz. No. 1103/4 A large brown Bay Coach Gelding..with a made star in the forehead. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 97 The Mother Cow..Her ample Forehead with a Star is crown'd. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 118 In a Hunter or Road Horse, a Star and Snip makes them look more lightsome. 1842Borrow Bible in Spain xviii, It was of a bright bay colour, with a star in its forehead. 1859Tennyson Enid 1605 She Kiss'd the white star upon his noble front.
attrib.1692Lond. Gaz. No. 2800/4 A bright bay Mare,..some grey Hairs in the Star-place.
c. Palmistry.
1653R. Sanders Physiogn. 24 If upon the mount of Saturn there be any of these marks, as a star or demy-cross. Ibid. 43, 57.
d. A star-like crystalline pattern which appears on the surface of antimony in the process of refining.
1660J. H. Basil Valentine's Tri. Chariot of Antimony 150 If thou hast proceeded aright,..thou shalt have a white star shining like to pure silver, and divided, as if the most accurate Painter had described it with its Radij or Beames. Ibid., This Regulus or Star may be often distilled by the fire, [etc.]. 1661Boyle Cert. Physiol. Ess. (1669) 56 He..shew'd me his Regulus [of Antimony] adorned with a more conspicuous Star than I have seen in several Stellate Regulusses of both Antimony and Mars. 1868Crookes & Röhrig Kerl's Metallurgy I. 546 The appearance of a star upon the surface of the regulus [of antimony] indicates a certain degree of purity.
e. Zool. A star-shaped zoophyte or its cell. Also, a stellate sponge-spicule.
1755J. Ellis Corallines 83 When I applied my Glass to it [a Sea-fig], I found the whole Surface covered with small Stars of six Rays, like small Polypes of six claws. 1839Penny Cycl. XIV. 266/2 Caryophyllia. Animals actiniform,..provided with.. tentacula, which project from the surface of stars of cylindriconical cells. 1858Baird Cycl. Nat. Hist. s.v. Anthozoa 36/2 When the animals are simple and solitary, and only a single star is visible, they form the genus Fungia... In some, the whole surface of the coral is roughened with little stars, showing the numbers of animals living in society.
f. = star-fish. brittle star = ophiuran n.
1601Holland Pliny ix. lx. I. 269 Of the sea fishes called Starres... The Starre in the sea..is..a very little fish, made like a starre. 1843,1863[see brittle a. 4]. 1864Feather-star [see feather n. 19]. 1890Hardwicke's Science-Gossip XXVI. 199 The brittle stars and star-fishes.
10. a. = asterisk 3. (Cf. F. étoile.)
1382Wyclif Prol. Job p. 670 And Origenes alle the volumes of the Olde Testament markide with signe of a ȝerde, and with signe of a sterre [obelis asteriscisque]. Ibid., Tho thingus, that vnder sterre signe ben addid.
1557N. T. (Genev.) To Rdr. **iij, If the bookes do alter in the sentence then it is noted with this starre *. 1571Digges Pantometria i. xxxiv. K iij b, Making thereon a Starre or suche like marke. 1659C. Simpson Division-Violist i. 4 Those two Notes marked with little Stars over their Figures.
1662H. Broughton's Wks. 733 Where the Figures are repeated, one Asterisk (or Star, *), is prefixed. 1724Watts Logic i. v. (1726) 75 What Remarks you find there worthy of your riper Observation, you may note them with a marginal Star. 1830Forrester I. 135 The names must certainly have been supplied by stars, out of consideration to the feelings of families, I suppose. 1847L. Hunt Men, Women, & Bks. II. xi. 267 There were no stars, or other typographical symbols, indicating the passages omitted. 1904A. Morrison Green Diamond ii. ii, Here you are. Lot 87 star, one magnum real old Imperial Tokay... Lot 88 star, ditto.
b. In lists of stockholders, an asterisk prefixed or appended to a person's name when his holding exceeds a certain amount.
In East India stock each vote to which a stockholder was entitled was denoted by a star; one star meant a holding of over {pstlg}1,000, two stars over {pstlg}3,000, three stars over {pstlg}6,000, and four stars over {pstlg}10,000.
1845Disraeli Sybil iv. xi, ‘The only stars I have got’, said Mr. Ormsby, demurely, ‘are four stars in India stock’. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xx, She was reported to have..three stars to her name in the East India stockholders' list.
c. In guidebooks, one of a number of stars or asterisks against the name of a hotel, restaurant, resort, etc., indicating its rank in a grading system. Cf. four-star, five-star, etc., under the first elements.
[1886S. Coolidge What Katy did Next vi. 138 ‘Following a star’, in their choice of a hotel..they had decided upon one of those thus distinguished in Baedeker's guide-book.] 1905E. M. Forster Where Angels fear to Tread vi. 172 Giotto..has painted two frescoes... That is why Baedeker gives the place a star. 1939J. B. Priestley Let People Sing v. 99 A bad inn that is given two stars in the Automobile Association's handbook. 1963R. Carrier Great Dishes of World 128 If one gave stars to the regions of France—as well as to their better restaurants—for the excellence of their cooking, Burgundy would have an unchallenged ‘three’. 1974Guardian 20 Mar. 1/1 The Michelin Guide..said that no [British] restaurants had been awarded two to three stars.
d. Used in various other grading systems, as for cognac, refrigerators, petrol, etc.
1922Joyce Ulysses 498 It was in consequence of a portwine beverage on top of Hennessy's three stars. 1951R. Postgate Plain Man's Guide to Wine ix. 125 ‘Three Stars’ indicates the standard and satisfactory degree of distillation... Five Stars should indicate a good brandy. 1968S. E. Ellacott Everyday Things in England 1914–68 ii. 42 Frozen foods and refrigerators were graded with stars according to the length of time they could be kept fresh. One star denoted a week, two stars a month, and three stars three months. 1971Homes & Gardens Aug. 86/1 Two stars indicate that the temperature is about 10 deg. F. (-12 deg. C.) and frozen food will last for up to four weeks. 1982Sunday Tel. 1 Aug. 6/1 My correspondent objects to the use of star petrol ratings in place of octane numbers.
11. a. The mark of a fracture in a surface of glass or ice, consisting of a central hole or smash with lines of cracks radiating from it.
1842Lever J. Hinton iii, An ominous-looking star in the looking-glass bore witness to the bullet of a pistol. 1842Tennyson Epic 12 Where, three times slipping from the outer edge, I bump'd the ice into three several stars.
b. Thieves' slang. The act of ‘starring the glaze’: see star v. 5.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict. s.v., The star is a game chiefly practised by young boys,..although the offence is capital... A person convicted of this offence, is said to have been done for a star.
c. A blemish in paper.
c1865J. Wylde in Circ. Sci. I. 153/2 We..find unaccountable spots, and what are called ‘stars’ on the surface.
d. Physics. A photographic image consisting of a number of lines emanating from a central point, which represent the paths of sub-atomic particles produced by the impact of a cosmic ray or other energetic particle.
1938Nature 1 Oct. 613/1 After an exposure of five months the plates have now been developed and examined. They present singular tracks and stars like those reported in previous papers. 1948Science 26 Nov. 588/2 Approximately 75% of the heavy negative mesons give rise to stars when they come to rest in the emulsion. 1957G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. iii. 212 Reactions in which a number of particles are produced.., when they are recorded in a photographic emulsion, are recognized as cosmic ray ‘stars’. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia V. 201/2 Interaction of the cosmic-ray particle with the constituents of the emulsion can often be observed as a ‘star’ in the emulsion; i.e., a spot from which secondary particles are emitted.
12. Applied to various objects shaped or arranged in the conventional form of a star (see 6).
a. Arch. A Norman moulding.
1836H. G. Knight Archit. Tour Normandy 199 The most common mouldings are the billet,..hatchet, nebule, star, rope. 1851E. Sharpe Seven Periods Archit. 13 Ornaments of different kinds,—such as the billet, the saw⁓tooth, the star, and the chevron.
b. Lace-making. A kind of stitch.
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 235 Etoile Stitch. Also known as Star, and made to fill in nine or sixteen squares of a netted foundation, with combinations of Slip Stitch, Point de Toile [etc.]..arranged so to form stars.
c. = star-fort (see 20).
1672J. Lacey tr. Tacquet's Milit. Archit. 41 The Banck opposite to the Town..may be fortified with less Works; To wit, with a half sexangular Star, or with a plain Bulwork. Ibid. 46 Redoubts and Stars. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I.
d. A wheel or pulley in a silk-winding machine. Cf. star-pulley, -wheel in 20.
1777in Phil. Trans. LXVII. 462 note a, The nucleus..is the smaller end of that part of a silk engine called a star. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 269 The long driving-shaft..on which are fixed a series of light wheels called stars, which bear the bobbin-pulleys, and turn them round by friction.
e. (See quot.)
1875Knight Dict. Mech., Star, a series of radial spokes, forming handles, on the roller of a copperplate or lithographic printing-press.
f. An iron pin used to secure a bird-net.
1851Mayhew Lond. Lab. II. 66.
†g. A number of streets, avenues, or the like, made to converge in one centre. Obs.
a1700Evelyn Diary 1 Apr. 1644, A grove of tall elmes cutt into a starr, every ray being a walk, whose center is a large fountaine. Ibid. 5 Oct. 1694, I went also to see the building beginning neere St. Giles's, where 7 streetes make a star from a Doric pillar plac'd in the middle of a circular area. 1762Kames Elem. Crit. (1763) III. xxiv. 339 A common centre of walks, termed a star.
h. An assemblage of objects arranged so as to form a star.
1831E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son xxiv, In the spaces between them and the upper deck were two stars of pistols.
i. Electr. Engin. A star-connected set of windings; in star, by means of a star connection.
1907[see neutral a. 4 f]. 1924A. L. Cook Elem. Electr. Engin. xviii. 509 When starting, the three groups of coils are connected in star (or Y). 1962Newnes Conc. Encycl. Electr. Engin. 709/1 A 4-branch star converts to a 6-branch mesh. 1974Howatson & Lund Princ. Heavy Current Engin. 109 It is possible to connect star to delta but..no fourth wire can be used and so the calculations become tedious if the system is not balanced. 1976F. de la C. Chard Electricity Supply v. 147 Transformers for 3-phase duty..may have both primary and secondary windings connected in delta or star.
13. Billiards. The act of ‘starring’ (see star v. 9).
1850Bohn's Handbk. Games (1867) 609 (Rules of Pool), 15. The first person who loses his three lives is entitled to purchase, or, as it is called, to star (a star being the mark placed against his lives on the board, to denote that he has purchased), by paying into the pool the same sum as at the commencement... 17. Only one star is allowed in a Pool.
14. colloq. A person who wears a star as a badge (cf. 6); e.g. a police-officer (see quot. 1859); a prisoner of the ‘star-class’ (see 18).
1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 446 Stars, the officers of the new police in the city of New York are so called from their badge, a brass star. 1903Ld. W. Neville Penal Serv. xi. 146, I as a ‘star’ had nothing to do with him directly. 1928Notes on Imprisonment (Home Office) 11 Promotion to the Third Stage may be earned after 12 months, or by ‘Stars’ after six months. 1945Prisons & Borstals (Home Office) ii. 18 An Ordinary Class prisoner comes into the Second Stage after 12 weeks, a Star after 4 weeks. 1962‘J. Bell’ Crime in Our Time vi. ii. 170 Nowadays, the ‘stars’ as a general rule are by no means first offenders. 1976A. Miller Inside Outside iv. 48 Several..said that if that was what one-time Stars became, they were cured of returning.
II. attrib. and Comb.
15. a. In obvious attrib. use.
1821Shelley Epipsych. 505 With moonlight patches, or star atoms keen. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. i, From beyond the Star-galaxies. a1849E. A. Poe Ulalume 31 And now, as the night was senescent, And star-dials hinted of morn. 1869Dunkin Midnight Sky 85 The bright star-group of Cassiopeia. 1870T. W. Higginson Army Life in Black Regiment ix. 209, I know moon-rise, I know star-rise, Lay dis body down. 1890A. M. Clerke Syst. Stars 238 Star-groupings of singularly definite forms are often met with. 1904Nature 9 June 135/2 The error inherent in the star-images. a1918W. Owen Poems (1963) 95 And tiring after beauty through star-crowds, Dared I go side by side with you. 1920A. S. Eddington Space, Time & Gravitation viii. 127 The measurement of the displacement of the star-image on the photographic plate. 1952C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Aeneid iv. 82 Often as star⁓rise, the troubled ghost of my father, Anchises, Comes to me in my dreams. 1954J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring ii. ix. 402 In the star-glimmer they must have offered their cunning foes some mark. 1961Webster, Star field, a region of the sky containing stars either as seen in a telescope or recorded on a photograph. a1963S. Plath Crossing Water (1971) 63 The pale, star-distance faces. 1968P. Moore tr. E. L. Schatzman's Struct. Universe i. 11 In 1838 F. W. Bessel..measured the first star-distance. 1976Houston (Texas) Chron. 22 Sept. vii. 1/2 Sumner's first lecture covers the starfield, with the movements of the sun, moon, planets illustrated and explained.
b. objective, as star-watcher; star-bearing, star-wearing adjs.
c1611Chapman Iliad iv. 54 Heauens starre-bearing hill. 1649Ogilby Virg. æneis iv. (1684) 204 My Reputation and Star-climbing Fame. 1672Wild Poet. Licentia 39 But hark-you Will, Star-poching is not fair. 1742Blair Grave 287 The Star-surveying Sage. 1777Potter æschylus, Prometh. Chain'd 44 Passing those star-aspiring heights. 1835Willis Pencillings I. iv. 30 Half-a-dozen star-wearing dukes, counts, and marquises. 1869Dunkin Midnight Sky 5 The star-watcher at an Australian midnight. 1877Blackie Wise Men Greece 351 The arts of field-measuring and star-measuring.
c. instrumental, as star-embroidered, star-led adjs.; instrumental or locative in star-born adj. Also star-spangled.
1597Drayton Heroic. Ep., John to Matilda 124 Her star-bestuded crowne. 1599R. Linche Anc. Fict. G iv, In a gorgeous and starre-bespotted chariot. 1601Weever Mirr. Mart. (Roxb.) 179 Vpon the bosom of the star-deckt skie. 1616Drummond Madrigals l. 4 Night, to this flowrie Globe Ne're show for mee thy starre-embrodred Robe. 1629Milton Ode Nativity iv, The Star-led Wisards. 1638Randolph Poems 54 [To Astrologers] But farewell now You hungry star-fed Tribe. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 976 In progress through the rode of Heav'n Star-pav'd. 1735Thomson Liberty iv. 424 With star-directed prow, To dare the middle deep. 1786T. Dwight Amer. Poems (1793) I. 39 Let every sage and seer, Dreamer of dreams, and star-taught prophet hear! 1791Wolcot (P. Pindar) Remonstrance 12 The star-bedizen'd sycophants of state. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. iii. xv, The star-dogged Moon. 1799Campbell Pleas. Hope ii. 272 On heavenly winds..Float the sweet tones of star-born melody. 1817Moore Lalla Rookh, Veiled Proph. i. 127 The flying throne of star-taught Soliman! 1821Shelley To Night ii, Wrap thy form in a mantle gray Star-inwrought! 1835Tennyson Day-Dream 85 The silk star-broider'd coverlid. 1863I. Williams Baptistery ii. xxvii. (1874) 129 The sky, with its star-peopled space. 1868J. R. Lowell in Atlantic Monthly May 627 It is wider Than the star-sown vague of space. 1886W. B. Yeats Mosada 2 For Azolar The star-taught Moor said thus it was decreed. 1895M. Kingsley Diary 5 June in Trav. W. Afr. (1897) vii. 124 The hills silhouetted against the star-powdered purple sky. 1896A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad 87 The star-filled seas are smooth to-night. 1897Atlantic Monthly Jan. 35 When he [sc. Emerson] came to put together his star-born ideas, they fitted well..because they were all part of the same idea. 1901H. G. Wells First Men in Moon v. 62 That airless, star-dusted sky! 1915G. Frankau Tid'apa v. 25 Blue-dark against star-strown turquoise, rose the ramparts of Lallong Ridge. 1920J. Gregory Man to Man xxiv. 284 The field of star-strewn sky. 1930J. Masefield Wanderer of Liverpool 87 Star⁓lighted, star-guided, the sea-gleaming beautiful thing. a1936A. E. Housman More Poems (1936) 166 No star is lost at all From all the star-sown sky. 1945W. de la Mare Burning-Glass 11 Ev'n happier in watch of..A star-strewn nightfall. 1958People 4 May 19/5 Star⁓studded with ex-League players. 1962Daily Tel. 28 Arp. 20 (heading) U.S. seeking ‘star-guided’ missile for NATO. 1977New Yorker 29 Aug. 20/2 It's Mickey Mouse, imprisoned inside a star-dusted transparent balloon. 1978Listener 16 Mar. 339/1 In an otherwise star⁓studded cast, the lead characters are not quite up to their role.
d. similative, as star-distant, star-eyed, star-leaved, star-shaped, star-sweet adjs.; star-wise adv.
1608Topsell Serpents 247 That kind of Spyder..is more knowne by his little spots made starre-wise. 1642H. More Song of Soul ii. App. xcix, Ruby-lip'd, pearl-teeth'd, star-eyn'd. c1711Petiver Gazophyl. vi. lvi, Star-leaved Persia Chickweed. Ibid. ix. lxxxii, Star-flowred Globe Cats-foot. 1799Underwood Dis. Childhood (ed. 4) II. 133 Three or four strips of adhesive plaster, applied star-wise. 1799Campbell Pleas. Hope ii. 325 Oh! star-eyed Science. 1812New Bot. Gard. I. 24 Adorned with many star-shaped flowers. 1821S. F. Gray Brit. Plants I. 75 Leaves..Star-ribbed, stellinervia. 1855Tennyson Maud i. iii, Passionless, pale, cold face, star-sweet on a gloom profound. 1859FitzGerald Omar lxxv, Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the grass. 1859Ld. Lytton Wanderer (ed. 2) 285 At dawn star-distant thou wilt be. 1861P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 278 In Botryllus, the breathing-holes are star-shaped. 1878G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 77 Star-eyed straw⁓berry-breasted Throstle. 1883Encycl. Brit. XVI. 681/2 Each chromatophore-cell has from six to ten muscular bands attached to its walls, radiating from it star-wise. 1884Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 86 Liquidambar Styraciflua..Star-leaved Gum. 1900W. B. Yeats Shadowy Waters 9 More shining winds, more star-glimmering ponds? 1943S. Spender Spiritual Exercises 6 Outside, the eternal star-tall mountains gleam.
16. a. With reference to the knowledge of astrology or astronomy, as star-craft, star-lore, † star-read [rede n.1], star-skill; star-read, star-skilled, star-wise adjs.; in designations (some jocular or contemptuous) of an astrologer or astronomer, as star-catcher, star-clerk, star-conner, star-man, star-master, star-monger, star-peeper, † star-tooter.
a1250Owl & Night. 1318 Þe mon mot beo well storre [Jesus MS. sturre]-wis. 1573R. Lever Arte Reason 6 The arte of measuring, witcrafte, speachcraft, starre-craft, &c. 1575Gascoigne Fruites of Warre xv. Wks. 1907 I. 144 If Mars moove warre, as Starcoonners can tel. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 57 As these foolish starre tooters promised. 1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 494 If, at the least, Star-Clarks be credit worth. 1593Nashe Four Lett. Conf. Wks. (Grosart) II. 252 Pierce Pennilesse is a better Star-munger than a Diuelmunger. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. Proem viii, Those ægyptian wisards old, Which in Star-read were wont haue best insight. 1599B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. iii. vii, These star-monger knaves, who would trust 'hem? 1602Warner Alb. Eng. xiii. lxxvii. 319 Obseruing which of Images, he hous'd himselfe them in, And, star-skil'd, opportunely there did Oracles begin. 1606Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. i. Tropheis 796 The Star-wise sometimes calculates (By an Eclipse) the death of Potentates. 1607Dekker Knt.'s Conjur. (1842) 9 The celestiall bodies for any thing star-catchers knew, were in very good health. 1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God xviii. viii. Vives 667 That star-skil that Abraham taught the Phænicians. 1620Melton Astrolog. 24 Hearing a Starre-catcher make a long..discourse about the Celestiall Signes. c1640H. Bell Luther's Colloq. Mens. (1652) 505 An astrologer or Star-peeper. 1654Gataker Disc. Apol. 4 So would I fain know of this great Star-master, how it comes to pass, that [etc.]. 1708Swift Poems, Grub St. Elegy Epitaph, A cobbler, starmonger, and quack. 1821Byron Sardan. ii. i. 12 The star-read Chaldean. 1836R. Furness Astrologer ii. Wks. (1858) 149 Which brought the star-man to the realms below. 1871B. Taylor Faust II. ii. iii. 134 Hast thou in star-lore any power? 1871Tylor Prim. Cult. II. 402 Our astronomers may only find in the starcraft of the lower races an uninstructive combination of myth and common-place.
b. With reference to ‘nebular’ or other theories of the formation of the stars.
1839Bailey Festus (1852) 516 Then there came A voice, as of a star-cloud in the sky. 1870Proctor Other Worlds xii. 287 The region where those nebulæ appear has been drained of star-material, so to speak, in order to form them. 1870― Pleas. Ways Sci. (1879) 145 Star-mist, under which head I include all orders of nebulæ. 1885Pater Marius (1910) I. v. 61 Apuleius had gathered into it the floating star-matter of many a delightful story. 1899C. F. d'Arcy Idealism & Theol. i. 50 From star-cloud to civilisation, all is the result of slow development. 1900Edin. Rev. Apr. 462 The ‘lucid matter’ of space is neither more nor less than star-spawn. 1902Blackw. Mag. July 66 What force could twist a great mass of star-stuff—we have no better name for it—into the form of a spiral. 1905A. M. Clerke Mod. Cosmogonies 54 If space contained only full-grown stars and no stars in the making—no star-spawn, no star-protoplasm.
17. With the sense ‘shaped like a conventional star’, ‘arranged in the form of a star’, ‘ornamented with stars’ (see 6).
1590Acc. Bk. W. Wray in Antiquary XXXII. 374, ii dosse' great stare buttons. 1613in Heriot's Mem. App. vii. (1822) 220 A starre pendant set with diamonds. 1681Grew Musæum iii. §i. iii. 281 A Piece of Fungites with Great Star-Work. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 168 A cocked hat with a star-loop. 1851Ruskin Stones Ven. I. App. 8. 364 The salt sea winds have eaten away the fair shafting of its star window into a skeleton of crumbling rays. 1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 30 Double Stitch..is also known by the name of ‘star stitch’. Ibid. 460 Star Braid, a kind of Braid.. made in blue and red, and having a white star. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining 238 Star reamer, a tool for regulating the diameter of or straightening a borehole, made star-shaped at the base. 1895E. Rowe Chip Carving 69 A small star punch was used instead of the single-pointed one.
18. With the sense ‘marked or distinguished by a star or asterisk’. In Prison slang, with reference to the badge worn by ‘first offenders’.
1814Hist. Univ. Oxford II. 259 This is the dress of business; it is used..in the morning at church, excepting star days. 1882Daily News 6 Feb. 3/5 The new category to be distinguished by the title of ‘Star-class Prisoners’. 1888Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 783/2 The ‘star-routes’..gave rise to..great scandals. 1890C. L. Norton Polit. Americanisms 108 Star Routes..are post-office routes which are not self-supporting, and are designated by asterisks in the ‘Postal Guide’. 1891Pall Mall Mag. Nov. 454 ‘Star’ prisoners are generally, but not always, first offenders. 1903Ld. W. Neville Penal Serv. vi. 66 There were only five parties in which ‘star’ men were allowed to work.
19. In senses 5 a, b, c.
1839Marryat Diary in Amer. II. ii. xiii. 121 They look for importations of star actors from this country. 1849Athenæum 30 June 677/2 Mr. Lumley, resolute in star-chasing, has absolutely succeeded in luring Madame Rossi back. 1864Reader 19 Nov. 650/3 Mdlle. Nillson, the new star-soprano at this theatre. 1876‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer iv. 50 He had been around among the star pupils inquiring. 1879C. E. Pascoe Dramatic Notes 68 What is known as ‘star-acting’ usually forms the principal feature of the bills of this theatre. 1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. xi. 453 The laws of stimulation and association..may at times simply form the background for a ‘star-performer’, who is no more their ‘inert accompaniment’ or their ‘incidental product’ than Hamlet is Horatio's or Ophelia's. 1904Mrs. Alec Tweedie Behind Footlights vi. 123 She..has played many star parts in the provinces. 1905H. A. Vachell Hill viii, It's a star-performance, I tell you. 1905Sat. Rev. 28 Oct. 545 He finds himself now spectator instead of star performer. 1909Times 24 Aug. 15/6 The engaging of outside ‘star’ players to strengthen a county [cricket] side. 1917T. E. Lawrence Lett. (1938) 219 The star film showed the Pyramids. 1927Melody Maker Sept. 923/1 The all too few star performers in this country. 1933J. Cary Amer. Visitor xiii. 169 Uli turned out one of the star pupils. 1943N. Coward Middle East Diary (1944) 23 He must possess..what is described in the theatre as ‘star quality’... Complete authority, a direct eye, and a compelling economy of gesture. 1950Sport 22–28 Sept. 12/4 Have too many star players been allowed to drift away from the Swansea Town fold? 1961Ann. Reg. 1960 446 Star acting was also the chief merit of The Last Angry Man. 1972Vogue Feb. 89/3 Twiggy's got this rather mysterious presence. Star quality. 1977New Yorker 19 Sept. 75/1 I'm sure Mme. Dorfmann is furious with the review, because he's her star pupil. 1978J. Gardner Dancing Dodo xxxii. 256 You're playing the star role—Hercule Poirot—and I've got to coach you. 1982London Review Bks. IV. xxiv. 20/2 Star quality, however, was not at all what was looked for in those who played opposite a superstar like Kean.
20. Special comb.: star-back slang, an expensive, reserved seat at a circus; star bill, a poster advertising a theatrical star; star billing = top billing s.v. billing vbl. n.3 b; also transf. and fig.; † star-blasting, the pernicious influence of malign stars; star boarder U.S., a boarder, usu. of long standing, having or regarded as having special privileges; also used euphemistically of more complicated relationships; star-burst, (a) an explosion of a star or stars, or an explosion producing an appearance of stars; (b) Photogr., a lens attachment which causes a bright light source to appear in a photograph with added star-like rays; also, the effect so produced; usu. attrib.; star-catalogue, a list of stars, with their position, magnitude, etc.; star-chart, a chart which shows the stars in a certain portion of the sky; star-clock, a sidereal clock; star cloud, a region of the sky where stars appear to be especially numerous and close together; star-cluster, a number of stars closely grouped together; star connection Electr. Engin., an arrangement in a polyphase system in motors and the like by which one end of each phase winding is connected to a common point; so star-connected a.; star count, a statistical survey of the stars in various directions in space to ascertain the numerical distribution across the sky of stars brighter than some given magnitude; † star-cross a. = star-crossed adj.; star-crossed a., thwarted by a malign star; star-cut a., of a diamond, cut with star-facets; n., this style of cutting; also in extended uses (see quots.); star-delta Electr. Engin., used attrib. with reference to the use of star connection when an induction motor is started with a change to delta connection for continuous running; star drag Angling (see quot. 1960); star-drift, a proper motion common to a group of stars; star-facet, one of the eight small triangular facets which surround the table of a brilliant; † star-fashion a. (of a flower), star-shaped; † star-flint, ? cf. star-stone; star-fort, a small fort having alternate salient and reentrant angles; star fracture Med., a fracture with radiating fissures; star-gauge, (a) a determination by the average of a number of observations of the number of stars visible in a given portion of the heavens; (b) a gauge with radiating steel points for measuring the bore of a cannon at any part of its length; star-gauging = prec. (a); † star-gem, ? the cat's-eye; star-glint (see quot.); star-god, a star or planet worshipped as a deity (cf. star-worship); star lot, an item in a sale catalogue added after the numbering is completed, and therefore designated by a starred number; star-map, a projection of the whole or part of the heavens, showing the position of the stars; star network, a data or communication network in which all terminals are independently connected to one central unit; Star of David = Magen David; star-pagoda, an Indian gold coin (cf. pagoda 3); star point Electr. Engin., the common junction of the windings in a star-connected system; star-proof a., impervious to starlight; also transf.; star-pulley = star-wheel (b); star quad Telecommunications, a quad (quad n.6) in which the four conductors are all twisted around a common axis, with members of each pair being diametrically opposite each other; usu. attrib.; star-queen poet., the moon; † star-real, -rial = spur-rial; † star-redoubt, -sconce = star-fort; star-shake, a shake in timber consisting of radial fissures; star-shell Mil., a shell which on bursting releases a shower of stars, to illuminate the enemy's position at night; star-shooter, -shooting, jocularly used with reference to taking the altitude of stars; star-shower, a shower of falling meteors; † star-staring pres. pple. and ppl. a. = star-gazing; star stream, † (a) a narrow band of the sky that is rich in stars; (b) each of the two groups of stars in star streaming; star streaming, the phenomenon (explained by the rotation of the galaxy) in which stars show a broad tendency to have proper motions in one or other of two opposite directions, thus falling approximately into two intermingled groups (‘streams’); star-stroke (see quot.); star system, (a) in the world of film and theatrical entertainment, the practice of promoting an eminent artiste in leading roles; (b) a large structured collection of stars, a galaxy; star-tracker, a self-regulating device which maintains its orientation relative to a star, used in the control systems of spacecraft; so star-tracking vbl. n.; star-trap Theatr., a trap in the stage-floor consisting of five or more wedge-shaped pieces which part when pressure is applied to the centre, used for the sudden appearance or disappearance of a gymnastic performer; star turn, the principal or most important item in an entertainment; also fig.; star-vehicle, a play or film designed especially to show off the talents of a particular actor or actress; Star Wars (also with lower-case initials), the title of a popular science-fiction film released in 1977, used (chiefly attrib.) as the informal name for a military defence strategy proposed by U.S. President Reagan in 1983, in which enemy weapons would be destroyed in space by lasers, antiballistic missiles, etc., launched or directed from orbiting military satellites; cf. SDI s.v. S 4 a; star-wheel, † (a) a firework combining the shapes of a wheel and a star; (b) a wheel with radial projections or teeth, used in winding-machines, clockwork, etc.; star witness, the principal or most important witness in a trial; star-worship = Sabaism; hence star-worshipper; † star-ypointing ppl. a. [erroneously formed], pointing to the stars.
1931Amer. Mercury Nov. 354/1 *Starbacks, the reserved seat section. 1933E. Seago Circus Company iii. 23 He sat with me in the ‘star backs’. 1965M. Stewart Airs above Ground vi. 72 Tim had no difficulty in getting what he called ‘starback’ seats... These, the best seats, were rather comfortable portable chairs..right at the ring⁓side.
1901A. Chevalier Before I Forget 157 Just ordered fresh stock of special printing, *star bills, &c. 1956H. Kurnitz Invasion of Privacy iii. 27 One picture a year... *Star billing. 1959Listener 5 Feb. 238/1 The Chinese still give credit to the Russians for their technical aid, but there has been a change in the star billing. Now they say these things were done by Chinese engineers with Soviet assistance. 1967Amer. N. & Q. June 156/1 Behind Spanish American Footlights is the key reference tool in its field, and as such rates star billing. 1979Listener 25 Oct. 547/3 The Radio Times..gives Ted Heath (1970–74) star billing.
1605Shakes. Lear iii. iv. 60 Blisse thee from Whirle-Windes, *Starre-blasting, and taking.
1877in H. Asbury Gem of Prairie (1940) iv. 135 Jessie Curtis, *star boarder, is still at 519 State Street. 1897Boston Jrnl. 16 Jan. 6/5 ‘I'm afraid you are about to be dethroned.’ The Star Boarder—‘Why?’ 1908J. M. Sullivan Criminal Slang 24 Star boarder or lodger, a boarder..in good financial standing who has all the privileges of a husband. 1922N. B. Tarkington Gentle Julia 113 The pill-boxes [for insects]..evidently contained star boarders, for they were pierced with ‘breathing holes’. 1935J. Hargan Gloss. Prison Lang. 8 Star-boarder, a lifer. 1935A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 113/2 Star boarder, the inmate of a house of prostitution, who earns the most money. 1976‘O. Bleeck’ No Questions Asked xii. 137 He lived here and we split expenses... He was sort of a star boarder.
1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai iii. 56 Rockets whooshed skyward ending in great parabolic *starbursts. 1977G. Michanowsky Once & Future Star i. 3 At the dawn of human history,..this starburst occurred and briefly became visible as a..second sun in our sky. 1977J. Hedgecoe Photographer's Handbk. 181 A clear sky can be filled with diverging lines if the sun is spread by means of a starburst filter. 1978Amateur Photographer 2 Aug. 110/1 Sparkling highlights are emphasized with a cross screen (star-burst). 1979Ibid. 30 May 92/3 A very special filter which not only gives a star-burst effect, but rays of the starburst are tinged with the colours of the spectrum.
1830Carlyle Richter & De Stael Ess. 1840 II. 405 A lively people..can at least use *star-catalogues, and some planisphere thereof.
1866Proctor Handbk. Stars 44 Aided by well-constructed *star-charts.
1878Huxley Physiogr. xx. 341, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds would be a day by the ‘*star-clock’.
1924Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sciences LIX. 217 Fainter stars of division A reveal through their distribution the relative nearness of the *star clouds in Cygnus. 1947Astrophysical Jrnl. CV. 257 The regions of the star clouds in Sagittarius and Ophiuchus are rich in clearly marked globules.
1870Proctor Other Worlds xii. 288 In fact, each of the Nubeculæ is at once a *star-cluster and a cluster of nebulæ.
1896D. C. & J. P. Jackson Alternating Currents II. viii. 395 If the armature is *star connected, the pressure between rings is equal to the vector sum of the pressure developed in the two coils. 1976F. de la C. Chard Electr. Supply v. 145 A star-connected winding has only 1/√3 times the line voltage across each phase but carries the full line current.
1894G. Kapp Electric Transmission of Energy (ed. 4) xii. 418 The armature is drum wound with *star connection. 1969Power System Protection (Electr. Council) II. xi. 404 Busbar reactors. (b) Tie bar connected. Two methods are commonly adopted and may be classified as (i) the star connection.., and (ii) the ring connection.
1889Nature 8 Aug. 345/1 For simple *star-counts, we have only to substitute star-counts by magnitudes over selected areas of the sky. 1933Discovery Feb. 41/2 The modern method employed for thus studying the distribution of stars is the statistical one of ‘star-counts’. 1947Astrophysical Jrnl. CV. 257 Stoddard has made star counts according to photographic and photovisual magnitudes for four large globules.
1608Middleton Fam. Love iv. ii. G 1, Since these proiects haue had so *star crosse euents.
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. Prol. 6 A paire of *starre-crost louers, take their life. 1600Dekker Fortunatus H 1, The star-crost sonne of Fortunatus. 1962C. Oman Mary of Modena v. 172 Abbé Armand Jean de Bouthillier de Rancé of La Trappe had, according to rumour, well known star-crost love before he suddenly renounced the world at the age of thirty-six. 1973Alberta Hist. Rev. Winter 12/1 But if Uncle Charlie's first motivation was star-crossed love, his second was certainly horses. 1977W. M. Spackman Armful of Warm Girl 18 She wailed in star-crossed despair.
1704Lond. Gaz. No. 4046/4 Another [Ring] with 3 Diamonds, *Star-cut. 1850Holtzapffel Turning III. 1331 Generally the trap cut, or the star cut, is employed on the back, and the stone is then said to have a..star-cut back. 1967Wodehouse Company for Henry iii. 45 Clichy double overlay weight,..the top flattened by a large window, star-cut base. 1972J. Howard-Williams Sails (ed. 3) xii. 172 The genniker (or spanker, or star-cut spinnaker) is..a cross between a genoa and a spinnaker... It is primarily a racing sail... It is cut rather like a storm spinnaker, with full width foot tapering to the rule minimum 75 per cent at mid⁓girth, with narrow shoulders from there up. 1976Yachting World Oct. 72/1 Spinnakers are sewn in a special corner of Hood's loft with a five-step machine. This sews a unique five-stitch seam on star-cut spinnakers.
1908W. B. Hird Elem. Dynamo Design ix. 260 If the *star-delta method of connection is used [in the starting of a squirrel-cage motor], the ratio must be 1 to 1·73, and no other choice can be made. 1962Newnes Conc. Encycl. Electr. Engin. 517/1 Star-delta starting is one method of reducing starting current of 3-phase motors. 1976F. de la C. Chard Electr. Supply v. 148 A star-delta connection for a step-down transformer is normally used.
1950N.Y. Times 30 Dec. 18/8 While you could stand a heavier bait rod and a reel with *star drag, the regulation bait rod will suffice. 1960C. Willock Angler's Encycl., Star-drag, adjustable tension device often built into big sea multiplying reels. Tension is varied by means of a star-shaped nut. 1979Angling July 33/1 (Advt.), Rugged star drag design with white-oak leather washers for smooth line control.
1870Proctor in Proc. Roy. Soc. XVIII. 169 When the proper motions are indicated in maps,..the *star-drift (as the phenomenon may be termed) becomes very evident. 1751*Star facets [see skill n.1 9]. 1813Mawe Diamonds (1823) 79 The triangles on the bizel, adjacent to the girdle, are called skill facets, and those which join the table, star facets.
1597Gerarde Herbal ii. cxxv. 393 Stalks..whereupon do grow faire yellow flowers, *star fashion. 1640Parkinson Theat. Bot. 132 The flower is purple, starre fashion, and yellow in the middle.
c1711Petiver Gazophyl. vii. lxviii, Wiltshire *Star-flint... This Fossil is represented, as cut, polisht, and designed for a Snuff-box.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, *Star-fort. 1783Justamond tr. Raynal's Hist. Indies VI. 117 Fort Lewis..is but a wretched star-fort, incapable of much resistance. 1834–47J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. (1851) 20 Star forts are usually constructed either on a triangle or on a square.
1892Daily News 27 May 3/4 There was a mark on the right temple..and from this point a fracture of the skull started. This ran round to the left side, where there was a *star fracture.
1784Sir W. Herschel Sci. Papers (1912) I. 162, I call it Gaging the Heavens, or the *Star-Gage. It consists in repeatedly taking the number of stars in ten fields of view of my reflector very near each other, and by adding their sums, and cutting off one decimal on the right. 1847Sir J. Herschel Astron. Observ. Cape 373 A system of star-gauges was set on foot. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2310/2 Star-Gage (Ordnance).
1870Proctor Other Worlds Pref. 8 The fact that Sir William Herschel adopted an erroneous hypothesis as the basis of his system of *star-gauging.
1693Dale Pharmacol. 100 Asteria gemma, Offic. The Bastard-Opal or *Star-Gemm.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Star-Glint, a meteorite.
1879Proctor Flowers of Sky ii. 24 note, The worship of *star-gods. 1905Budge Egypt. Heaven & Hell II. 263 Three bearded beings, the ‘Star-gods’.
1854Poultry Chron. I. 80/1 Two young Brahma Pootra fowls, not included in the catalogue (introduced as *star lots).
1866Proctor Handbk. Stars 11 The projection and construction of *star-maps. 1900W. B. Blaikie (title) Monthly Star Maps for the Year 1900.
1977Financial Times 21 Feb. 13/1 Modern data networks have come a long way since the banks first started installing their enormous *star networks, consisting of one or two very big computer centres serving several thousand simple terminals installed in branch back offices. 1979T. Housley Data Communications & Teleprocessing Systems ii. 52 There are four basic network configurations that can be used: the star network, the ring network, the mesh network, and the hierarchical network. The star network..is probably the most common.
1941M. Samuel tr. Bein's Theodore Herzl ii. vii. 229 At one side hung a flag: a white field with two blue stripes and the *Star of David. 1979N.Y. Rev. Bks. 25 Oct. 3/2 Jan Friedländer's book plates displayed a score by Chopin set within a Star of David.
1799Hull Advertiser 21 Dec. 4/1 The prize fund amounted..to *star pagodas 25 lacks 34.804. 1858Beveridge Hist. India II. vi. v. 711 One lac of star pagodas ({pstlg}40,000).
1908W. B. Hird Elem. Dynamo Design vii. 186 The *star point..is usually connected to earth, both at the generator and at the load end. 1969Power System Protection (Electr. Council) II. xi. 404 Each section of busbar is connected via a reactor to a common star point, and if the feeders and generators are suitably arranged little or no current need flow through the reactors.
a1645Milton Arcades 89 Under the shady roof Of branching Elm *Star-proof. 1871Swinburne Songs bef. Sunrise Prelude 101 Star-proof trees. 1873Lytton Ken. Chillingly i. xi, To all female fascinations he had been hitherto star-proof.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1109 The *star pulleys c, c.
1930Gloss. Terms Telegraphs & Telephones (B.S.I.) 31 *Star quad cable, a cable containing a number of quads, each quad formed by twisting together four insulated conductors about a common axis. 1958J. R. G. Smith Elem. Telecommunications Pract. v. 73 Other features of star-quad cables are that in some cables certain of the pairs are screened by being wrapped in metallized paper..; they are placed in the centre of the core and used for music. 1970P. Norman in T. L. Squires Telecomm. Pocket Bk. v. 53 Some 4,000 miles of these [balanced pair] systems are installed in this country, consisting mainly of 24-pair, 40 lb per mile conductors in star-quad formation.
1818Keats Endymion iv. 589 The *Star-Queen's crescent [cf. Horace Carm. Saec. 35 siderum regina bicornis].
1580Fermor Acc. in Archæol. Jrnl. (1851) VIII. 185 It. rec. of old gold, one *staw [sic] ryall, a duckett [etc.]. 1606Holland Sueton. Annot. 34 Our olde Edward Star-Reals, or fifteene shilling peeces.
1702Milit. Dict. (1704) *Star-Redoute, of four, of five, of six, or of more points, otherwise call'd an Estoile.
1632Swed. Intelligencer i. 112 The great *Starre-Sconce or Toll-house by the old Elue.
1875T. Laslett Timber 178 The chief defect in Mexican Mahogany is the prevalence of *star-shake. 1883M. P. Bale Saw-Mills 336 Star shake, consists of clefts which radiate from the pith or centre of the tree towards the circumference or bark.
1876Will & Dalton Artill. Hand-bk. Ref. 224 The *star shell... The interior is filled with 13 stars. The stars are paper cylinders filled with a composition which burns about 18 seconds and gives a brilliant light. 1899Daily News 1 Dec. 3/4 There is also on board a large quantity of star shell.
1863Athenæum 21 Nov. 63 When navigators first began to make observations with instruments on deck, the self-sufficient called them *star-shooters and when the star's altitude was taken would ask if they had hit it.
1898Daily News 14 Apr. 2/3 After a good deal of *star-shooting and other scientific operations.
1818Shelley Stanzas Written in Deject. ii, I see the waves upon the shore, Like light dissolved in *star-showers, thrown. 1869Dunkin Midnight Sky 137 The memorable star-showers of November 1866, 1867, and 1868.
1621R. Brathwait Nat. Embassie (1877) 20 *Star-staring earthling, puff'd with insolence. a1661Fuller Worthies, Worc. (1662) 182 They saw You gone, but whether could not tell, Star-staring, though they ask'd both Heaven and Hell.
1894Knowledge 1 June 133/1 The streams are in most cases accompanied by narrow black channels in the general nebulosity, which run parallel to and alongside of the *star streams. 1904J. C. Kapteyn in H. J. Rogers Congress of Arts & Science (1906) IV. 418 Here we have a clear indication that we have to do with two star-streams. 1925Ark. f. Mat., Astr. och Fysik XIXa. xxi. 1, I have tried to find a clue to a possible connection between the star⁓streaming discovered by Kapteyn, ‘the two star-streams’, and the asymmetrical drift of high stellar velocities. 1968W. M. Smart Riddle of Universe vi. 106 Kapteyn's star⁓streams are consistent with the phenomenon of galactic rotation and are indeed explained by it.
1906Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1905 257 (heading) *Star streaming. 1921Discovery Feb. 36/1 In 1904 Professor Kapteyn..read at the Astronomical Congress at St. Louis, U.S.A., a paper of far-reaching importance, in which he announced the discovery of star-streaming. 1979Lang & Gingerich Source Bk. Astron. & Astrophysics lxxvii. 514 Karl Schwarzschild showed that it was unnecessary to think of two star streams and that the phenomenon of star streaming could be explained by assuming that the individual motions of the stars are distributed in an ellipsoid with the long axis in the direction of motion of Kapteyn's two star streams.
1855Dunglison Med. Lex., Coup de Soleil,..Stroke of the sun, ægyptian *Starstroke or Sunstroke.
1832Rep. Sel. Comm. on Dramatic Lit. in Parl. Papers 1831–32 VII. 30 The *star system that has been adopted by the two great theatres. 1870R. A. Proctor Other Worlds than Ours 256 To return for a moment to fig. 2, it will be seen at once that an aperture extending laterally through a star system so shaped must have a particular direction and be perfectly straight in order to be visible to observers placed, as we are supposed to be, in the central opening. 1890G. B. Shaw in Star 18 Apr. 2/3 The familiar star system trick of making the minor characters slur their work in order to leave plenty of time for the mock pregnant pauses..of the leading actor. 1928A. S. Eddington Nature Physical World viii. 167 The first partitions [of the gaseous nebulae] are the star-systems such as our galactic system. 1937A. Calder-Marshall in C. Day Lewis Mind in Chains 71 This tendency..has led to the star-system deplored by film critics almost without exception. 1967P. Moore Amat. Astronomer's Gloss. 89 Nubeculæ (or Magellanic Clouds), the nearest of the external star⁓systems, and so the brightest as seen with the naked eye. 1971Guardian 5 June 9/4 Hollywood was devising the ‘star system’, the big solo buildup, the personality cult of the silent screen.
1962Aeroplane & Commercial Aviation News CIII. 32/1 The main outstanding problem in the provision of such a system is the development of a suitable daylight *star-tracker. 1978Nature 5 Oct. 378/2 The star tracker in the scientific instrument can identify and guide on stars brighter than 14 mag.
1964Discovery Oct. 7/3 A *star-tracking ability can readily be developed from the same system.
1873Routledge's Young Gentl. Mag. 279/1 A *star trap is circular in form.
1898A. M. Binstead Pink 'Un & Pelican ii. 44 The ‘*star turns’ in the entertainment, which took place twice every day, were the then unknown Paul Cinquevalli, Batty, the natty horseman..the ‘Beautiful Geraldine’, and two savage and sullen brown bears. 1906E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands vii. 78 In fact the packer soon found that waiting was Eric's ‘star turn’. 1909Flight 3 July 398/1 M. Bleriot..is the ‘star turn’ at the Brayelle aerodrome at Douai just now. 1915H. G. Wells Boon 328 ‘Inevitably,’ said the Bishop, ‘this theatricalism, this star-turn business, with its extreme spiritual excitements,..leads to such a breakdown as afflicts you.’ 1951J. C. Fennessy Sonnet if Bottle iv. iv. 116 You're our star turn, it's up to you. 1977‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon xii. 232 His normal chief recreation..is watching other people at work. And in this..it is the two workmen who are the star turns.
1932New Yorker 9 Jan. 43/1 As a spectacle it is a typical *star vehicle hitched up to a singer with..a weak larynx. 1953K. Reisz Technique Film Editing i. 60 Many of the films built round the personality of Greta Garbo..are little more than ingeniously contrived star-vehicles, yet they cannot be dismissed as worthless. 1974Listener 2 May 580/2 Few self-respecting dramatists want to construct star-vehicles nowadays, and so Robert Morley..has written one for himself.
[1977Washington Post 4 Sept. a12/2 Four decks above the tow, the Bernard G.'s pilot house looks more like something from Star Wars than from Mark Twain. 1982Space World Aug.–Sept. 10 (heading) The real star wars. Ibid. 10/1 The years from now to the end of the century will be critical in the real ‘star war’ to determine who will exercise control of earth through dominance of space.] 1983Time 4 Apr. 19/2 The first question is one of commitment: whether Ronald Reagan understands what it takes to nudge a doubting, cash-short nation into serious consideration of his *star wars defense concept. 1984Times 3 July 1/8 The Foreign Secretary..urged the Soviet Union to discuss ‘star wars’ weapons with America. 1984Daily Tel. 27 Oct. 6/3 ‘Star Wars’ is the term that has been applied to various defensive systems designed to destroy enemy weapons outside the earth's atmosphere. 1985Radio Times 1 July 36/4 President Reagan believes his ‘Star Wars’ defence initiative may end the threat from nuclear weapons.
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XV. 716/1 The *Star-wheel illuminated. 1848Archæologia XXXIII. 32 The wheel B carries 6 pins, which act upon the star-wheel C of 12 rays, and cause it to revolve in 48 hours. 1876Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 117 They admit the teeth of a little star wheel.
1924W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xvii. 183 Haight [sc. a district attorney] was very gentle and considerate of his *star witness. 1978P. Moyes Who is Simon Warwick? xi. 137 The prosecutors were..satisfied with the evidence. Susan Benedict was to be their star witness.
1860Pusey Min. Proph. 243 That favourite study of the Chaldæans, astrology, ‘the mysteries’, *star-worship.
Ibid. 447 The milder form of idolatry, the *star-worshippers.
1630Milton on Shakespear 4 Under a *Star-ypointing Pyramid.
21. In names of animals: star-buzzard, an American hawk of the genus Asturina; † star-cake, ? some flattish species of sea-urchin; star-coral, a coral of the family Astræidæ; star-cowry (see quot.); star-finch, the redstart; † star-hawk, a goshawk (Astur); † star-lizard, a lizard of the genus Stellio; star-mouthed, epithet of the family Strongylidæ of nematoid worms; star-nose, -nosed, epithet of certain moles, esp. Condylura cristata; † star-spider, the asterion of Pliny; star-tail, the tropic bird; star-throat, a humming-bird of the genus Heliomaster; also star-throated a. See also star-fish.
1884Coues N. Amer. Birds 551 Asturina, *Star Buzzards.
1713Petiver Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ Tab. i, Echinus planus..Wrinkled *Star-cake.
1856Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. xiv. (1876) 245 *Star-corals. 1884Goode Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 841 The Star Corals (Orbicella annularis and cavernosa).
1815S. Brookes Conchol. 157 *Star Cowry. Cypræa Helvola.
1752Hill Hist. Anim. 507 Authors call it the Ruticilla and Phœnicurus; we, the Fire-tail, the *Star-finch, and the Red-start.
1668Charleton Onomast. 64 Accipiter Asterias, Astur..the *Star-hawk, or Egret.
1601Holland Pliny xxix. iv. II. 361 Our Stellions or *Star-lizards here in Italie.
1854A. Adams etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 350 *Star-mouthed Worms (Strongylidæ).
1837Penny Cycl. VII. 443/1 Condylura macroura (Harlan). Thick-tailed, *star-nose.
1859Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. I. 429 Radiated Mole, or *Star-nosed Mole, Astromyctes cristatus.
1608Topsell Serpents 250 Of the wounding of the *Starre-Spyder feeblenes and weakenes followeth.
1862Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. II. 756 They also call it [sc. the Tropic Bird] by the name of *Startail, on account of the long projecting tail-feathers.
1862Ibid. 243 The *Star-throats.
Ibid. The *Star-throated Humming-birds.
22. a. In names of plants: star-anemone, Anemone stellata (or hortensis); star-anise, Illicium anisatum or its fruit (from the stellate arrangement of the carpels); also, Illicium verum, a small evergreen tree found in southern China; the fruit of this tree, or the oil or spice obtained from it; star-bush (see quot.); star-cucumber, Sicyos angulatus of N. America; star-fruit, Damasonium stellatum; star-hyacinth, Scilla amœna; star-pepper, Xanthoxylon Daniellii (Treas. Bot. 1866); star-plum (see quot.); star-primula, Primula stellata; star tulip, a glabrous perennial bulbous plant belonging to any of several species of the genus Calochortus (family Liliaceæ), native to temperate western N. America; (formerly distinguished from Mariposa lilies, but now sometimes used synonymously for the whole genus). See also star-apple, -flower, -grass, -head, -thistle, -wort.
1812New Bot. Gard. I. 28 The best *Star-Anemones are said to come from Brittany. 1882Garden 14 Jan. 14/2 The Star Anemone in some of its more distinct colours should be freely grown.
1838Penny Cycl. XII. 445/1 Illicium anisatum..of which the fruit is exported from Canton, and well known in commerce by the name of *Star anise. 1883Star anise [see coffin-wood s.v. coffin n. 13]. 1972K. Lo Chinese Food i. 12 One or two pieces of star⁓anise and a sprinkling of cinnamon.
1884W. Miller Plant-n. 201 Grewia occidentalis, African *Star-bush.
1856A. Gray Man. Bot. 138 Sicyos, L. One-seeded *Star-Cucumber.
1857Miss Pratt Flowering Pl. V. 307 Actinocarpus (*Star-fruit).
1758Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornw. 233 Lesser autumnal *star-hyacinth.
1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 446 *Star-plum (Chrysophillum monopyrenum). A kind of star-apple, also called a Barbadoes Damson plum.
1904Nature 25 Aug. 408/1 The graceful *Star Primula.
1895W. Robinson English Flower Garden (ed. 4) ii. 347/2 One of the most experienced growers of the Calochorti, Dr. Wallace, of Colchester, writes of the family thus:..‘Other dwarf forms among the *Star Tulips lasted well up to the end of June, when the beautiful Mariposa Lilies continued the display with their tall spikes.’ 1921M. Hampden Bulb Gardening xvii. 185 Every garden should contain Calochorti... They consist of three groups, but I consider two only fit for the amateur gardener's patronage; these are known as Mariposa, or Butterfly Tulips, and Star Tulips. 1925[see mariposa lily]. 1974H. G. W. Fogg Compl. Handbk. Bulbs vii. 49/2 Of those described as star tulips, C[alochortus] benthami, clear yellow with dark central blotch, and C. maweanus ‘Major’..are among the finest.
b. In names for nostoc (as supposed to be shed from the stars): star-jelly, star-slime, star-slough, star-slubber, star-slutch: also star-fallen, star-falling, and star-shot.
c1440Promp. Parv. 474/2 Sterre slyme, assub. 1552Elyot's Dict., Aporrhocæ, certayne impressions in the ayer, which we call starre fallyng, because it so appereth to our sightes. 1712J. Morton Nat. Hist. Northamptonsh. 353 That gelatinous Body call'd Star-Gelly, Star-shot, or Star-fall'n, so named because vulgarly believ'd to fall from a Star. 1756W. Watson Leicestersh. Plants in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 8 0 Our country people call it Tar-slough [? read Star-slough] and some of them, as it is principally seen after rain, suppose..that it drops from the clouds. 1766Star Gelly [see jelly n.1 2 b]. 1779Gentl. Mag. XLIX. 489 Dr. Lister conceived that star-slime is nothing but frogs dissolved and putrified in the air. 1781J. Hutton Tour to Caves (ed. 2) Gloss. 96 Starslubber, frog spawn. 1791Gentl. Mag. LXI. i. 467 Tremella Nostoch..is in that county [Cheshire] called star-slutch. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 80 Star-slough. 1878Cumbld. Gloss., Star-slime. 1882J. Smith Dict. Pop. Names Plants 391 Star Jelly, Nostoc commune and N. edule, gelatinous cryptogams.., springing up often on gravel walks after rain in round patches.
c. star of Bethlehem (also † Bethlem star), the genus Ornithogalum, esp. O. umbellatum abundant in Palestine, with white stellate flowers; applied also to Stellaria Holostea, Hypoxis decumbens, and other plants; star of the earth, Plantago Coronopus; star of Jerusalem, Tragopogon pratensis or T. porrifolius; star of night, Clusia rosea (Grisebach Flora W. Ind. 1864, 788).
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 96 Star of Bethelem. 1597Gerarde Herbal i. lxxxiii. 131 There be sundrie sorts of wilde field-onions called Star of Bethlehem. 1678Salmon Pharm. Lond. 84 Bethlem star, temperate: It is not much used in Physick, but the Root serves for meat or food being rosted in Embers, mixt with honey. 1755Gentl. Mag. XXV. 407 The Ornithogalums, or stars of Bethlehem. a1806C. Smith Flora's Horologe viii, Pale as a pensive cloistered nun, The Bethlem star her face unveils. 1845S. Judd Margaret i. xiv, She got bunch-berries, and star-of-Bethlehems. 1847Jerdon in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. v. 212, I beg to send you..two specimens of the Yellow Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum luteum, Lin.). 1864Grisebach Flora W. Ind. Islands 788 Star-of-Bethlehem, Hypoxis decumbens.
1651T. de Grey Compl. Horseman (1656) 160 A third Cure [for the bite of a mad dog]... Take the Hearbe which groweth in dry and barren Hils, called The Starre of the earth. 1671–2Roy. Soc. Jrnl.-Bks. in Phil. Trans. (1736) XXXIX. 360 Sir Robert Moray mentioned that a whole Kennel of Dogs, belonging to his Royal Highness, were bitten by a mad Dog, and had been lately cured by a certain Herb called Stellaria, or Star of the Earth. 1738Steward in Phil. Trans. XL. 458 In Norfolk, my native County,..the Coronopus is called the Star of the Earth.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 96 Star of Jerusalem. 1665Lovell Herbal (ed. 2) 415 Starres of Jerusalem, see Josephs-flower.
23. Min. The names of precious stones which exhibit asterism, as star diamond, star quartz, star ruby, star sapphire; star-stone.
1805–17R. Jameson Char. Min. 256 Star-sapphire. 1829Crawfurd Jrnl. Emb. Crt. of Ava (1834) II. 201 The star ruby. 1887Cassell's Encycl. Dict., Star-diamond. 1896Chester Dict. Min., Star-quartz, a var. of quartz which exhibits asterism. 1976Sci. Amer. Apr. 94/2 A type of opal new to us has recently been mined near Spencer, Idaho. It is a star opal that shows streaks of colour in symmetrically arranged angular patterns similar to the rays of a star sapphire.
Add:[I.] [12.] j. Telecommunications. = star network, sense 20 below.
1973Davies & Barber Communication Networks for Computers iv. 104 To connect a given number of devices in a simple ring needs no more lines than to connect them as a star, and each extra line enhances the whole network to some degree. 1983Personal Computer World Mar. 144/1 The previous article..concluded by considering one of the simplest of networks, a ‘star’ of lines all connected to just one central switch or node. 1984L. Uhr Algorithm-Structured Computer Arrays & Networks iv. 85 Finkel and Solomon..defined stars as having p computers interconnected via a bus, with each computer linked to two buses. 1986I. Jacobs in T. C. Bartee Digital Communications i. 40 Fiber is much better suited for a star architecture.
[II.] [22.] [a.] star-fruit, (b) = carambola n.
1965B. M. Allen Malayan Fruits 131 Bĕlimbing Manis: Carambola. Averrhoa carambola Linn... Other names: Bĕlimbing Batu..Kambola, Caramba, Star-fruit (but do not confuse with Star Apple). 1988J. Bacon Exotic Fruits 20 Carambola,..barbadine, granadilla (West Indies), star fruit. This distinctive tropical fruit..has a brilliant-yellow translucent skin, and when cut in cross-section it resembles a star.
▸ starfucker n. coarse slang a person, esp. a woman, who seeks out celebrities with a view to having sex with them.
1970J. Grissim Country Mus. 259 In the rock and roll Fifties they were called *star-fuckers. 1973Let it Rock July 48/4 Bowie can also explore his audience, the parasitical star-fuckers, kick-seeking, dancing to their deaths. 2004J. Weiner Little Earthquakes 269 Some groupie, some cheerleader..some starfucker who'd hurried back to her girlfriends in triumph.
▸ starstruck adj. (a) enchanted, spellbound, bewitched; affected or directed by the stars (cf. moonstruck adj.); (b) fascinated by famous people, especially those connected with the entertainment industry; overwhelmed or greatly impressed by the presence of a celebrity.
1820‘B. Cornwall’ Marcian Colonna 179 In thy smiling presence, I Kneel in star-struck idolatry, And turn me to thine eye (the moon) Fretting that it must change so soon. 1862R. Cresswell tr. Aristotle Hist. Animals viii. xx. 219 The glanis, from its swimming near the surface, appears to be star-struck by the dog-star. 1938Times 22 Apr. 12/2 There is a Lorenzo by Mr. Alec Guinness who..lifts the final scene to an unspectacular, meditative, star-struck beauty that takes the breath away. 1970R. Allen Skinhead xv, in Compl. Richard Allen (1992) I. 97 His was a senseless world of violence for the sake of violence;..his the starstruck era of pop and pot and the belief that might is right even if might has to play games and call itself right. 1991U.S. News & World Rep. 27 May 19/2 Dallasites endured this five-week assassination re-examination with star-struck curiosity and good-natured composure. 2001R. Hill Dialogues of Dead (2002) xv. 163 Wield knew that if Ellie had a weakness, it was a tendency to be star-struck by fully paid-up luvvies.
▪ II. star, n.2 Now dial.
Forms: 4–5 starre, (? 5 stair), 5, 9 stare, 8–9 starr, 4– star.
[a. ON. stǫr-r fem. (gen. starar; Norw. storr, Sw. starr, Da. stær).]
A name given locally to various coarse seaside grasses and sedges, as Psamma arenaria and Carex arenaria. Also star-grass.
c1300Havelok 939 He bar þe turues, he bar þe star. 1322Bolton Priory Compotus 445 [455] Pro starre empt' et cariat' ad grangiam de Penisthorpe vs. 1419Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 147 Et in iiij carect. de Star empt. cum car. ejusdem. c1440Promp. Parv. 64/2 Cegge, or stare [Winch. starre], carix. a1550in Archæologia I. 175 Item in Marisco potest Dominus habere Stair, pro coopertura domorum. 1712N. Blundell Diary (1895) 100 As I was going to my Setters of Star to hinder y⊇ Sand from recking up my Grand Watercourse. 1722Ibid. 186 For Cuting the Starr. 1742Act 15 Geo. II c. 33 §6 A certain Rush or Shrub called Starr or Bent. 1792Lightfoot Flora Scot. II. 560 Turfy-pink-leav'd Carex. Anglis. Starr. Scotis. 1823Moor Suffolk Words s.v. Bent, Bent or Starr. 1881Gregor Folk-Lore ix. 51 A bunch of stars or bruckles to redd the tobacco pipes. 1895‘M. E. Francis’ Frieze & Fustian 284 It is on the sand-hills that I generally find him, bundles of blue-green star-grass, ready to be planted, lying about him. a1897J. Macdonald Place Names W. Aberd. (1899) 308 In this part of the country the name Starrs is applied to rushes.
▪ III. † star, n.3 Obs.
[Of obscure origin.]
a. ? A crack or fissure in the skin.
b. ? A swelling or tumour in horses.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 28 If any be hurt by the starres, wash them in asses stale mingled with Spiknard. Ibid. 654 The dust of lambs bones is very much..vsed for Vlcers which haue no chops or stars in them. 1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4768/4 A Star or Bunch, with no Hair on it, on the far Leg behind.
▪ IV. star, v.|stɑː(r)|
[f. star n.1]
†1. intr. Of a planet: To be in the ascendant.
1592Warner Alb. Eng. vii. xxxvi. (1612) 172 Dull malcontented Saturne rulde the houre when I was borne. Had Iupiter then starr'd I had not liued now forlorne.
2. trans. (poet. nonce-uses.) To fix as a star in the heavens; to transform (a person) into a star. Also fig.
1610G. Fletcher Christ's Tri. ii. xxvii, The seeling gay, Starred aloft the guilded knobs embrave. 1632[see starred ppl. a. 5]. 1819J. H. Wiffen Aonian Hours (1820) 96 His love he told, A feeling pity in her eyes was starred.
3. To mark (a horse) with a star. (See star n.1 9 b.)
1592Greene Conny Catch. ii. 4 They will straight spot him by sundry pollicies, and in a blacke horse, marke saddle spots, or star him in the forehead.
4. a. To adorn with an ornament likened to a star or a number of stars; to bespangle as with stars. Also with over, round.
The verb is perhaps implied at an earlier date in some of the instances of starred ppl. a., q.v.
1718Pope Iliad i. 326 His Sceptre starr'd with golden Studs around. 1742Young Nt. Th. ix. 562 Like a sable curtain starr'd with gold. 1777Potter æschylus, Supplicants 88 An herdsman..starr'd round with eyes... The earth-born Argus. 1820Shelley Prom. Unb. iii. iii. 138 Blooms Which star the winds with points of coloured light. 1884A. Lang in Century Mag. Jan. 340/2 The primroses starred the banks. 1885B. Harte Maruja iii, Pretty women, with roses starring their dark hair.
b. To decorate with the star of an order.
1845Disraeli Sybil iv. xi, And now he is a quasi ambassador, and ribboned, and starred to the chin.
5. a. To make a radiating crack or fracture in (a surface of glass, ice, etc.). Cf. star n.1 11.
to star the glaze (Thieves' slang): see quot. 1788.
1788Grose Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 2), To Star the Glaze, to break and rob a jeweller's show glass. Cant. 1813Mrs. Piozzi in Jrnls. & Corr. Whalley (1863) II. 364 The ice is starred, as skaters call it, by the fall of the French in Spain. 1824Mechanic's Mag. No. 19. 300 A pane of window-glass, perforated completely through..without the glass being, as it is technically called, starred. 1873Chamb. Jrnl. 30 Aug. 547/2 The next [pebble]..not only hit the window, but starred one of the panes with a loud crash. 1884Manch. Exam. 19 Dec. 5/2 As the granite around the hole is starred in all directions, it is Major Majendie's opinion that a large quantity of dynamite was used.
b. intr. To become fractured in this way.
1842Civ. Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. V. 368/1 The iron of which vessels is composed has been found to become brittle in the course of years, so that..it will..star like glass when struck by a hard and sharp body. 1894Athenæum 3 Mar. 282/1 Sir J. Evans suggested that the meaning of this was ‘I will not star’, or crack, like a glass bottle.
c. trans. (Geol.) To diversify (strata) by cracks or veins radiating from a centre.
1839Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xx. 261 The highly inclined and dislocated strata of purple schist and sandstone..are starred through in many directions by veins of white crystallized quartz. 1842Sedgwick in Hudson's Guide Lakes (1843) 227 In the progress of elevation, mountain masses were torn asunder and starred by diverging lines of ‘fault’.
6. a. trans. To produce the ‘stars’ on (antimony) in the process of refining. Cf. star n. 9 d. b. intr. Of antimony: To form ‘stars’ when solidifying. (Webster 1911.)
1889Beringer Text-bk. Assaying 186 Briefly, the process consists of the three ordinary operations of—(a) Singling or removing most of the antimony from the ore; (b) Doubling: (c) Refining or ‘starring’.
7. To distinguish (a written or printed word, name, etc.) by an affixed star or asterisk. Hence, to single out for special notice or recommendation.
1827Gardener's Mag. II. 105, I wonder indeed that members of a (professedly) liberal society should quietly submit to be classed and regulated, and starred and scheduled, like the items in a paper of assessed taxes. 1897Daily News 29 July 3/1 He maintained that..if the Government meant to proceed with these Bills they ought to have ‘starred’ them, meaning that an asterisk should be placed by them on the Order Paper, as is the case with Bills in charge of Ministers. 1897Ibid. 4 Nov. 7/1 The defendant complained that his name was not starred on the play bills and programmes. 1898Q. Rev. July 192 This recommendation amounts to ‘starring’ the several codices, just as individual charters have..been ‘starred’ by the editor of our first ‘Codex’. 1913J. M. Jones Welsh Gram. p. xxvii, The form need not have been starred.
8. a. intr. Of an actor, singer, etc.: To appear as a ‘star’, perform the leading part (see star n.1 5 a); to make a tour in the provinces as the ‘star’ of a dramatic company. Also to star it, and quasi-trans. to star the provinces. Also in sport, to play a star role in a team.
1824W. Irving T. Trav. II. 36 The great actors, who came down starring..from London. 1825New Monthly Mag. XV. 393 Mr. Fitzwilliam is ‘starring’ it among them. 1850Thackeray Pendennis xix, She..had starred the provinces with great éclat. 1891R. Ford Thistledown xvi. 298 He attaches himself to a band of strolling players, and ‘stars’ it through part of the country of Fife. 1933Radio Times 14 Apr. 73/1 There may have been two Zazels, one of whom..retired before 1890, when the other took over the name and ‘starred’ at the Westminster Aquarium. 1972J. Mosedale Football viii. 116 Turner..starred from 1940 through 1952. 1976Oxf. Compan. Film 633/2 She returned to Britain to star in Say Hello to Yesterday. 1978Dumfries Courier 20 Oct. 5/3 Carson starred on the right wing, and was the mainspring of a lively Queens side.
b. said of any notable or distinguished personage when appearing in public. Also jocularly (see quot. 1852).
1852Motley Corr. (1889) I. v. 129, I don't know where he [the sun] is, probably engaged elsewhere, starring it in some more profitable region. 1887Huxley in L. Huxley Life (1900) II. 151, I have been ‘starring’ at the Mansion House. 1893Bookman June 86/1 This Russian baroness..starring it in Russian embassies and Paris salons.
c. trans. To furnish with ‘stars’, provide a run of ‘stars’ for.
1831Lincoln Herald 7 Oct. 4 We were extremely sorry to see so thin a house: sad encouragement for the manager in starring the season.
d. To advertise as a film or theatrical star; to give a star part to (an actor or actress); (with a film, etc., as subject) to present in a leading role.
1895G. B. Shaw Let. 27 Mar. (1965) I. 508 It is good business to star Janet. 1922Encycl. Brit. XXX. 699/2 He appeared in a minor rôle on the New York stage in 1901; later he was ‘starred’ in several comedies and musical pieces. 1929A. C. & C. Edington Studio Murder Mystery viii. 102 Already ve are going to star her! Already ve haff bought a story, just for her. 1936[see feature v. 4 c]. 1951‘N. Shute’ Lonely Road (ed. 2) p. v, In 1936 a film was made..starring Clive Brook. 1962E. Albee Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1964) i. 5 Chicago was a 'thirties musical, starring little Miss Alice Faye. Don't you know anything? 1980Sunday Times 21 Sept. 14 Since then he has earned an international reputation with plays..and The Faith Healer, which starred James Mason last year on Broadway.
9. Billiards. In the game of Pool, to buy an additional life or lives (see star n.1 13). Similarly in Dominoes. Also quasi-trans.
1850Bohn's Handbk. Games (1867) 609 (Rules of Pool) If the first person out refuse to star, the second person may do it,..and so on, until only two persons are left in the pool, in which case the privilege of starring ceases. 1870Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle, Dominoes 100 He who ‘stars’ re-commences at the number which the player holds who is in the worst position. 1875G. F. Pardon in Encycl. Brit. III. 677/1 The first player who loses all his three lives can ‘star’; that is, by paying into the pool a sum equal to his original stake, he is entitled to as many lives as the lowest number on the marking board. Thus if the lowest number be two, he stars two; if one, he stars one. |