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, 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 sb., is represented in several Teut. langs., and was adopted from ON. into northern Eng. and Sc. dialects: see STERN sb.2]
I. 1. 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.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter cxlviii. 3. Herʓað hine alle steorran & leht.
O. E. Chron., an. 892. Þy ilcan ʓeare … æteowde se steorra þe mon on boclæden hæt cometa, same men cweþaþ on Englisc þæt hit sie feaxede steorra.
c. 1200. Moral Ode, 279 (Trin. Coll. MS.). Nafre sunne þar ne sineð ne mone ne storre.
c. 1205. Lay., 17870. Þe steorre is ihate a latin comete.
c. 1340. Ayenb., 164. And þus him þingþ al þe wordle lite, ase a sterre hit þincþ to ous.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 268. His eyen twynkled in his heed aryght As doon the sterres in the frosty nyght.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., II. xvi. 242. The vij. planetis … and … the fix sterris.
1588. Kyd, Househ. Philos, Wks. (1901), 262. Euen as the Moone and the Starres receiue light by participation with the sunne.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 158. And tell us whence the stars; why some are fix’d, And planetary some.
1813. W. Bakewell, Introd. Geol. (1815), 432. It is well known to astronomers, that new stars have suddenly appeared with a brilliancy exceeding that of Jupiter.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 447/1. We distinguish the stars from the planets in much the same way as our ancestors did before us.
1892. Tennyson, Death Œnone, 82. And the dream Wail’d in her, when she woke beneath the stars.
b. In proverbial phrases, similes, etc.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 164. Ðeos wyrt scineð on nihte swilce steorra on heofone.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 153. No man hit ne mihte tellen, nan more þene men muȝen tellen þe sterres on heuene.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 9. Ant his twa ehnen steappre þene steorren.
c. 1381. Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 595. There been mo sterris god wot than a payre.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 17. And at yche ‘Aue’ scho set a rose yn þe garlond þat schon as bryght as a sterre.
1513. More, Rich. III., in Grafton’s Chron. (1568), 807. They extolled and praysed him farre aboue the starres.
1581. A. Hall, Iliad, II. 18. Casting how he Achilles fame vnto the starres might raise.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., IV. xi. 53. More eath it were for mortall wight To tell the sands, or count the starres on hye.
1754. Richardson, Grandison, VII. iii. 11. Since she has already one foot among the stars, and can look down with pity … on all those who [etc.].
1782. Mrs. H. Cowley, Bold Stroke for Husband, II. ii. To take up all the fine apartments, and send poor little Livy to lodge next the stars.
1799. Wordsw., ‘She dwelt,’ 7. Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky. Ibid. (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.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 599. For Ioues ys not ther aboute … To make of the as yet a sterre.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. i. 55. A farre more glorious Starre thy Soule will make, Then Iulius Cæsar. Ibid. (1608), Per., V. iii. 79. Heauens make a Starre of him!
1598. T. 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.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. iv. 58. Well, and you be not turn’d Turke, there’s no more sayling by the starre. Ibid. (c. 1600), Sonn., cxvi. 7. Loue … is the star to euery wandring barke.
1663. Cowley, Ess., vii. Wks. (1906), 441. [Gold] The Ensign ’tis at Land, and ’tis the Seamans Star.
e. transf. (Chiefly in colloq. phrase: see quot. 1891.)
1609. Heywood, Brit. Troy, VII. lxxv. 157. Those that but late incompast him about, And with their steele strooke Stars out of his Crest.
1843. N. C. Standard, 15 Nov., 2/3. The Editor may study over this until he ‘sees stars’ or ‘broad streaks of political light.’
1891. Century 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.
1894. Sir J. Astley, Fifty Yrs. Life, I. 142. Quicker than thought, in comes his right, and if you only see stars you are pretty lucky.
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, of noon: the sun.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 714. & mid tet ilke step up, & steah to þe steorren.
a. 1240. Ureisun, in Lamb. Hom., 187. Ne wene na mon to stihen wið este to þe steorren.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxi. (Eugenia), 25? Þai … sad þat goddis had hir tane & ymang þe sterris with hir gane.
1602. Dolman, 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.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle (1871), 113. The blazing bright beamd starre, Sol.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 1071. Ere this diurnal Starr Leave cold the Night.
1697. J. Sergeant, Solid Philos., 118. Providence has left us no Means to know what is done in the Moon, or other Stars.
1737. Gentl. Mag., VII. 63/1. He adds, that they see the Sun at Midnight,… And as that Star [etc.].
1742. Young, Nt. Th., IX. 1683. Worlds conceal’d by day Behind the proud and envious star of noon!
1808. Macaulay, in Trevelyan, Life & Lett. (1880), I. 32. The star of day had reached the West.
1841. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, ix. Perhaps she wondered what star was destined for her habitation when she had run her little course below.
1870. R. 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. 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 man’s birth, sways his destinies, molds his temperament, etc. Now often in metaphorical quasi-adoption of astrological beliefs.
c. 1250. Owl & Night., 1321. Hwat constu, wrecche þing, of storre?
1375. Barbour, 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.
1542. Boorde, Dyetary, iii. (1870), 236. Many thynges doth infect … the ayre, as the influence of sondry sterres.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, I. i. 205. You were borne vnder a charitable starre. Ibid. (1601), Jul. C., I. ii. 140. The fault (deere Brutus) is not in our Starres, But in our Selues, that we are vnderlings.
1686. trans. 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.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, II. i. My good star would have it that he appeared pleased with my voice.
1728–46. Thomson, Spring, 1113. But happy they … whom gentler stars unite.
1831. Lytton, 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.
1845. Sarah Austin, Ranke’s Hist. Ref., III. 477. Suleiman recognized the ascendancy of the star of his rival.
1886. Ruskin, Præterita, I. x. 308. Another segment of my learning … might have had better consequence than ever came of it, had the stars so pleased.
1888. Bryce, 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; also † good stars! and jocularly my stars and garters! (cf. 8).
a. 1593. Marlowe, Edw. II., IV. vi. O my starres! Why do you lowre vnkindly on a king?
1599. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum., I. iii. I thanke my Starres for it.
1609. Dekker, Gull’s Horn-bk., v. 23. That you are (thankes to your starres) in mightie credit.
1686. W. De Britaine, Hum. Prud., xxii. 105. I am not (I bless my Stars) disturbed at any thing.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 37. He has ofttimes thank’d his good Stars for it.
1711. M. Henry, Hope & Fear Balanced, 16. Then ’twill be Folly to curse your Stars (as some profanely speak).
1728. Vanbr. & Cib., Prov. Husb., III. i. 51. My Stars! and you would really live in London half the Year, to be sober in it?
1760. H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 24 May. It costs, the stars know what!
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, VII. ix. ‘Your dog!’ cried Morrice, looking aghast, ‘good stars! I never thought of him!’
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmag., i. (1860), 19. I … blessed my stars that I was a bachelor.
1841. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, xxii. My stars, Simmun!… You frighten me to death!
1850. R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr. (ed. 2), I. 213. My stars and garters! what sort of man is this?
1865. J. Hatton, Bitter Sweets, xiv. You may thank your stars, my lad, that I followed Master Barns to-night.
c. transf. A person’s fortune, rank, or destiny, disposition or temperament, viewed as determined by the stars.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. v. 156. In my stars I am aboue thee, but be not affraid of greatnesse. Ibid. (1602), Ham., II. ii. 141. Lord Hamlet is a Prince out of thy Starre.
1643. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., II. § 13. I was not borne unto riches, neither is it I thinke my Starre to be wealthy.
1646. Buck, 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.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 11. Meidenhad is te steorre þat, beo ha eanes of þe east igan adun to þe west, neauer eft ne ariseð ha.
a. 1400. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., 735/1. Heil, sterre of þe See so briht!
1538. Starkey, England, i. 12. Where fyrst we schal se the gudly cytes, castellys, and townys … pleasauntly set as they were sterrys apon erthe.
1631. T. Adams, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 148. Our learned and bright shining star Mr. Holsworth.
1653. Apol. for Goodwin, 5. The light of Nature in his Astronomy, is a Star of the first magnitude.
1697. Dryden, 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.
1769. Gray, Installation Ode, 93. The Star of Brunswick smiles serene, And gilds the horrors of the deep.
1833. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. Imagin. Faculty. Quixote—the errant Star of Knighthood, made more tender by eclipse.
1845. R. W. Hamilton, Pop. Educ., vii. (ed. 2), 174. Education is the star of their hope and their guidance. That star is fixed.
1889. Gretton, 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. Theatr. An actor, singer, etc., of exceptional celebrity, or one whose name is prominently advertised as a special attraction to the public.
[1779. Warner, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1844), IV. 30. The little stars, who hid their diminished rays in his [Garrick’s] presence, begin to abuse him.]
1824. Compl. Hist. Murder Mr. Weare, 219. Carter … was at a loss for a star in the pugilistic hemisphere to produce him a crowded house.
1827. Edin. Weekly Jrnl., 28 Feb., in Scott’s Chron. Canongate, Introd. App. He had hitherto been speaking of what, in theatrical language, was called stars.
1833. Motley, Corr. (1889), I. ii. 31. The great tragedy star of Berlin and of Germany, Devrient, is dead.
1864. C. Knight, Passages Work. Life, I. v. 218. Our theatre was pretty and commodious; but the manager could not draw audiences without stars.
1883. Athenæum, 8 Sept., 313/1. A ballad concert in which the ‘stars’ took part.
b. gen. (Chiefly colloq.) One who ‘shines’ in society, or is distinguished in some branch of art, industry, science, etc.
1850. S. G. Osborne, Gleanings, 228. I have attended many such meetings in England, to meet English Agricultural stars.
1876. Gladstone, Glean. (1879), 266. The historian, the poet, the great social star.
1880. Miss Broughton, Second Thoughts, II. vii. A tiny foreign princekin who is the star and lion of the evening.
6. 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.
c. 1400. Wycliffite Bible, Lev. xi. 30, marg. Stellio, that is, a worme peyntid as with sterris.
1431. Rec. St. Mary at Hill, 26. A hole vestement of blu veluet with sterres & mones of golde.
1538. in Archæologia, XLIII. 215. i cope of oulde redd velvett spotted wyth sters.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., III. vii. 74. The Armour that I saw in your Tent to night, are those Starres or Sunnes vpon it?
1705. Addison, Italy, Ferrara, 124. A Circle of Stars glew’d to the Canvas over the Head of the Figure [of the Virgin].
1795. Denne, 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.
1818. Art Bookbinding, 31. Stamped with a star or any device, to fancy.
1846. Soyer, Cookery, 424. When partly set form a rosette or star upon each, with fillets of hard-boiled white of eggs and truffles.
1890. Mounteney-Jephson, Emin Pasha, 290. His own flag with the crescent and three stars,… was flying at the fore.
1899. Miss 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.
1782. E. Watson, Men & Times Revol. (1861), 203. He … attached to the ship the stars and stripes.
1830. Debates in Congress, 24 Feb., 193. This alone can account … for the exhortation against enlistments, against joining the stars and stripes of their country.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xiv. 32. We … ran the stars and stripes up to the peak.
1859. Thackeray, Virginians, 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?
1863. Whittier, Barbara Frietchie, 13. Forty flags with their silver stars, Forty flags with their crimson bars.
7. Pyrotechny. A small piece of combustible composition, used in rockets, mines, etc., which as seen burning high in the air resemble a star.
1634. J. B[ate], Myst. Nat., II. 57. [Of Fire-works.] Such as operate in the ayre, as Rockets,… Stars, [etc.].
1669. Sturmy, 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.
1797. Encycl. 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.
1842. Penny Cycl., XX. 54/1. (Rocket) A conical case containing the composition for producing the explosions or stars of light which constitute the signal.
1876. Voyle & 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.
1863. Abel, 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.
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, I. 85. While Peers, and Dukes, and all their sweeping train, And Garters, Stars, and Coronets appear.
1731. Swift, Poems, On his Death, 323. He … Despised the fools with stars and garters, So often seen caressing Chartres.
1795. Burns, For a’ that, iii. For a’ that, and a’ that, His ribband, star, and a’ that.
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, III. ii. A Field Marshal covered with stars?
1862. Thackeray, Philip, i. Lord Ascot in his star and ribbon … walked with his arm in the doctor’s into chapel.
1901. Essex Weekly News, 15 March, 2/4. Deceased … wore the Egyptian medal and the Khedive’s star.
9. A natural object resembling or likened to a star; e.g., the open corolla (or corolla and disk) of a flower.
a. 1635. Randolph, Muse’s Looking-Gl., IV. i. Nature adornes The Peacocks taile with starres.
1777. Cavallo, Electricity, 207. The Star and Pencil of electric Light.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 176. [Jasmine] The bright profusion of her scatter’d stars.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), III. 364. Leaves upright … those at the end forming a star.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxvi. Now the light diminished to a distant star that seemed to twinkle on the waters.
1851. Meredith, Love in Valley, xiv. Jasmine winds the porch with stars two and three.
1859. Tennyson, Enid, 313. His charger trampling many a prickly star Of sprouted thistle on the broken stones.
1890. Bridges, 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.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 3925. Hys hors … bar a sterre on his forhed.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 47. Thus was the hors in sori plit, Bot for al that a sterre whit Amiddes in the front he had.
1607. Markham, Caval., I. (1617), 22. The pure black, with white star, white foote, or white rach.
1676. Lond. Gaz., No. 1103/4. A large brown Bay Coach Gelding … with a made star in the forehead.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 97. The Mother Cow … Her ample Forehead with a Star is crown’d.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 118. In a Hunter or Road Horse, a Star and Snip makes them look more lightsome.
1842. Borrow, Bible in Spain, xviii. It was of a bright bay colour, with a star in its forehead.
1859. Tennyson, Enid, 1605. She Kiss’d the white star upon his noble front.
attrib. 1692. Lond. Gaz., No. 2800/4. A bright bay Mare,… some grey Hairs in the Star-place.
c. Palmistry.
1653. R. 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.
1660. J. 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.].
1661. Boyle, 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.
1868. Crookes & 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.
1755. J. 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.
1839. Penny Cycl., XIV. 266/2. Caryophyllia. Animals actiniform,… provided with … tentacula, which project from the surface of stars or cylindriconical cells.
1858. Baird, 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. Britlle star = OPHIURAN sb.
1601. Holland, 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].
1862. Feather-star [see FEATHER sb. 19].
1890. Hardwicke’s Science-Gossip, XXVI. 199. The brittle stars and star-fishes.
10. = ASTERISK 3. (Cf. F. étoile.)
1382. Wyclif, 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.
1557. N. T. (Genev.), To Rdr. **iij. If the bookes do alter in the sentence then is it noted with this starre *.
1571. Digges, Pantom., I. xxxiv. K iij b. Making thereon a Starre or suche like marke.
1659. C. Simpson, Division-Violist, I. 4. Those two Notes marked with little Stars over their Figures.
1662. H. Broughton’s Wks., 733. Where the Figures are repeated, one Asterisk (or Star, *) is prefixed.
1724. Watts, Logic, I. v. (1726), 75. What Remarks you find there worthy of your riper Observation, you may note them with a marginal Star.
1830. Forrester, I. 135. The names must certainly have been supplied by stars, out of consideration to the feelings of families, I suppose.
1847. L. Hunt, Men, Women, & Bks., II. xi. 267. There were no stars, or other typographical symbols, indicating the passages omitted.
1904. A. 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 £1,000, two stars over £3,000, three stars over £6,000, and four stars over £10,000.
1841. Morning Post, 24 Sept., 4/1. The late Mr. Jackson Randall (a tiptop orator, and a shining man, he having had four stars to his name).
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, IV. xi. ‘The only stars I have got,’ said Mr. Ormsby, demurely, ‘are four stars in India stock.’
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xx. She was reported to have … three stars to her name in the East India stockholders’ list.
11. The mark of a fracture in a surface of glass or ice, consisting of a central hole or smash with lines of crack radiating from it.
1842. Lever, J. Hinton, iii. An ominous-looking star in the looking-glass bore witness to the bullet of a pistol.
1842. Tennyson, 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.
1812. J. 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.
c. 1865. J. Wylde, in Circ. Sci., I. 153/2. We … find unaccountable spots, and what are called ‘stars’ on the surface.
12. Applied to various objects shaped or arranged in the conventional form of a star (see 6).
a. Arch. A Norman moulding.
1836. H. G. Knight, Archit. Tour Normandy, 199. The most common mouldings are the billet,… hatchet, nebule, star, rope.
1851. E. Sharpe, Seven Periods Archit., 13. Ornaments of different kinds,—such as the billet, the sawtooth, the star, and the chevron.
b. Lace-making. A kind of stitch.
1882. Caulfeild & 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).
1672. Lacy, trans. 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.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I.
d. A wheel or pulley in a silk-winding machine. Cf. star-pulley, -wheel in 20.
1777. in Phil. Trans., LXVII, 462. note a, The nucleus … is the smaller end of that part of a silk engine called a star.
1835. Ure, 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.)
1875. Knight, 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.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, II. 66.
† g. A number of streets, avenues, or the like, made to converge in one center. Obs.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 1 April 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.
1763. Kames, 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.
1831. Trelawny, Adv. Younger Son, xxiv. In the spaces between them and the upper deck were two stars of pistols.
13. Billiards. The act of ‘starring’ (see STAR v. 9).
1850. Bohn’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).
1859. Bartlett, 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.
1903. Ld. W. Neville, Penal Serv., xi. 146. Though he being one of the ordinary prisoners, I, as a ‘star,’ had nothing to do with him directly.
II. attrib. and Comb.
15. a. In obvious attrib. use.
1821. Shelley, Epipsych., 505. With moonlight patches, or star atoms keen.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. III. i. From beyond the Star-galaxies.
a. 1849. Poe, Ulalume, 31. And now, as the night was senescent, And star-dials hinted of morn.
1869. Dunkin, Midnight Sky, 85. The bright star-group of Cassiopeia.
1890. Agnes M. Clerke, Syst. Stars, 238. Star-groupings of singularly definite forms are often met with.
b. objective, as star-watcher; star-bearing, -wearing adjs.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, IV. 54. Heauens starre-bearing hill.
1649. Ogilby, Virg. Æneis, IV. (1684), 204. My Reputation and Star-climbing Fame.
1672. R. Wild, Poet. Licent., 39. But hark-you Will, Star-poching is not fair.
1742. Blair, Grave, 287. The Star-surveying Sage.
1777. Potter, Æschylus, Prometh. Chain’d, 44. Passing those star-aspiring heights.
1835. Willis, Pencillings, I. iv. 30. Half-a-dozen star-wearing dukes, counts, and marquises.
1869. Dunkin, Midnight Sky, 5. The star-watcher at an Australian midnight.
1877. Blackie, 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.
1597. Drayton, Heroic. Ep., John to Matilda, 124. Her star-bestuded crowne.
1599. R. Linche, Anc. Fict., G iv. In a gorgeous and starre-bespotted chariot.
1601. Weever, Mirr. Mart. (Roxb.), 179. Vpon the bosom of the star-deckt skie.
1616. Drummond, Madrigals, l. 4. Night, to this flowrie Globe Ne’re show for mee thy starre-embrodred Robe.
1629. Milton, Ode Nativity, iv. The Star-led Wisards.
1638. Randolph, Poems, 54. [To Astrologers] But farewell now You hungry star-fed Tribe.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 976. In progress through the rode of Heav’n Star-pav’d.
1735. Thomson, Liberty, IV. 424. With star-directed prow, To dare the middle deep.
1791. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Remonstrance, 12. The star-bedizen’d sycophants of state.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., III. xv. The star-dogged Moon.
1799. Campbell, Pleas. Hope, II. 272. On heavenly winds … Float the sweet tones of star-born melody.
1817. Moore, Lalla Rookh, Veiled Proph., I. 127. The flying throne of star-taught Soliman!
1821. Shelley, To Night, ii. Wrap thy form in a mantle gray Star-inwrought!
1835. Tennyson, Day-Dream, 85. The silk star-broider’d coverlid.
1863. I. Williams, Baptistery, II. xxvii. (1874), 129. The sky, with its star-peopled space.
1897. J. J. Chapman, in Atlantic Monthly, Jan., 35/1. When he [sc. Emerson] came to put together his star-born ideas, they fitted well, no matter in what order he placed them, because they were all part of the same idea.
d. similative, as star-distant, -eyed, -leaved, -shaped, -sweet adjs.; star-wise adv.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 247. That kind of Spyder … is more known by his little spots made starre-wise.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, II. App. xcix. Ruby-lip’d, pearl-teeth’d, star-eyn’d.
c. 1711. Petiver, Gazophyl., VI. lvi. Star-leaved Persia Chickweed. Ibid., IX. lxxxii. Star-flowred Globe Cats-foot.
1799. Underwood, Dis. Childhood (ed. 4), II. 133. Three or four strips of adhesive plaster, applied star-wise.
1799. Campbell, Pleas. Hope, II. 325. Oh! star-eyed Science.
1812. New Bot. Gard., I. 24. Adorned with many star-shaped flowers.
1821. S. F. Gray, Brit. Plants, I. 75. Leaves … Star-ribbed, stellinervia.
1855. Tennyson, Maud, I. III. Passionless, pale, cold face, star-sweet on a gloom profound.
1859. FitzGerald, Omar, lxxv. Among the Guests Star-scatter’d on the grass.
1859. Ld. Lytton, Wanderer (ed. 2), 285. At dawn star-distant thou wilt be.
1861. P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 278. In Botryllus, the breathing-holes are star-shaped.
1883. Encycl. Brit., XVI. 681/2. Each chromatophore-cell has from six to ten muscular bands attached to its walls, radiating from it star-wise.
1884. Sargent, Rep. Forests N. Amer., 86. Liquidambar Styraciflua … Star-leaved Gum.
16. With reference to the knowledge of astrology or astronomy, as star-craft, -lore, † -read [REDE sb.1], -skill; star-read, -skilled, -wise adjs.; in designations (some jocular or contemptuous) of an astrologer or astronomer, as star-catcher, -clerk, -conner, -man, -master, -monger, -peeper, † -tooter.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1318. Þe mon mot beo well storre [Jesus MS. sturre]-wis.
1573. R. Lever, Arte Reason, 6. The arte of measuring, witcrafte, speachcraft, starre-craft, &c.
1575. Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, xv. Wks. 1907, I. 144. If Mars moove warre, as Starcoonners can tel.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 57. As these foolish starre tooters promised.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iii. 494. If, at the least, Star-Clarks be credit worth.
1593. Nashe, Four Lett. Conf., Wks. (Grosart), II. 252. Pierce Pennilesse is a better Star-munger than a Diuelmunger.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. Proem viii. Those Ægyptian wisards old, Which in Star-read were wont haue best insight.
1599. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum., III. vii. These star-monger knaves, who would trust ’hem?
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., XIII. lxxvii. 319. Obseruing which of Images, he hous’d himselfe them in, And, star-skil’d, opportunely there did Oracles begin.
1606. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. I. Tropheis, 796. The Star-wise sometimes calculates (By an Eclipse) the death of Potentates.
1607. Dekker, Knt.’s Conjur. (1842), 9. The celestiall bodies for any thing star-catchers knew, were in very good health.
1610. Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, XVIII. viii. Vives 667. That star-skil that Abraham taught the Phænicians.
1620. Melton, Astrolog., 24. Hearing a Starre-catcher make a long … discourse about the Celestiall Signes.
c. 1640. H. Bell, Luther’s Colloq. Mens. (1652), 505. An astrologer or Star-peeper.
1654. Gataker, Disc. Apol., 4. So would I fain know of this great Star-master, how it comes to pass, that [etc.].
1708. Swift, Poems, Grub St. Elegy, Epitaph, A cobbler, starmonger, and quack.
1821. Byron, Sardanap., II. i. 12. The star-read Chaldean.
1836. R. Furness, Astrologer, II. Wks. (1858), 142. Which brought the star-man to the realms below.
1871. B. Taylor, Faust, II. II. iii. 134. Hast thou in star-lore any power?
1871. Tylor, 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.
1839. Bailey, Festus (1852), 516. Then there came A voice, as of a star-cloud in the sky.
1870. Proctor, Other Worlds, xii. 287. The region where those nebulæ appear has been drained of star-material, so to speak, in order to form them. Ibid. (1870), Pleas. Ways Sci. (1879), 145. Star-mist, under which head I include all orders of nebulæ.
1885. Pater, Marius (1910), I. v. 61. Apuleius had gathered into it the floating star-matter of many a delightful story.
1899. C. F. d’Arcy, Idealism & Theol., i. 50. From star-cloud to civilisation, all is the result of slow development, of gradual growth by means of the integration of minute differences.
1900. Edin. Rev., April, 462. The ‘lucid matter’ of space is neither more nor less than star-spawn.
1902. Blackw. Mag., July, 66/1. What force could twist a great mass of star-stuff—we have no better name for it—into the form of a spiral.
1905. Agnes 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).
1590. Acc. Bk. W. Wray, in Antiquary, XXXII. 374. ii dosse’ great stare buttons.
1613. in Heriot’s Mem., App. VII. (1822), 220. A starre pendant set with diamonds.
1681. Grew, Musæum, III. § i. iii. 281. A Piece of Fungites with Great Star-Work.
1812. Sporting Mag., XXXIX. 168. A cocked hat with a star-loop.
1851. Ruskin, Stones Venice, I. App. 8. 364. The salt sea winds have eaten away the fair shafting or its star window into a skeleton of crumbling rays.
1882. Caulfeild & 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.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 238. Star Reamer. A tool for regulating the diameter of or straightening a borehole, made star-shaped at the base.
1895. Eleanor 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.’
1814. Hist. Univ. Oxford, II. 259. This is the dress of business; it is used … in the morning at church, excepting star days.
1882. Daily News, 6 Feb., 3/5. The new category to be distinguished by the title of ‘Star-class Prisoners.’
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 783/2. The ‘star-routes’ … gave rise to … great scandals.
1890. C. 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.’
1891. Pall Mall Mag., Nov., 454. ‘Star’ prisoners are generally, but not always, first offenders.
1903. Ld. W. Neville, Penal Serv., vi. 66. There were only five parties in which ‘star’ men were allowed to work.
19. In sense 5 a, b.
1849. Athenæum, 30 June, 677/2. Mr. Lumley, resolute in star-chasing, has absolutely succeeded in luring Madame Rossi back.
1864. Reader, 19 Nov., 650/3. Mdlle. Nillson, the new star-soprano at this theatre.
1904. Mrs. Alec Tweedie, Behind Footlights, vi. 123. She … has played many star parts in the provinces.
1905. Vachell, Hill, viii. It’s a star-performance, I tell you.
1905. Sat. Rev., 28 Oct., 545/2. He [Lord Rosebery] finds himself now spectator instead of star performer.
20. Special comb.: † star-blasting, the pernicious influence of malign stars; star-catalogue, a list of stars, with their position, magnitude, etc.; star-chart, a chart that shows the stars in a certain portion of the sky; star-clock, a sidereal clock; star-cluster, a number of stars closely grouped together; † star-cross, -crossed adjs., thwarted by a malign star; star-cut a., of a diamond, cut with star-facets; sb., this style of cutting; star-drift, a proper motion common to a group of stars; star-facet, one of the eight small triangular facets that 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-pagoda, an Indian gold coin (cf. PAGODA 3); star-proof a., impervious to starlight; also transf.; star-pulley = star-wheel (b); 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 that on bursting releases a shower of stars, to illuminate the enemy’s position at night; star-ship, the Southern constellation Argo Navis; 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-stroke (see quot.); star-trap Theatr., a trap in the stage-floor consisting of five or more wedge-shaped pieces that part when pressure is applied to the center, used for the sudden appearance or disappearance of a gymnastic performer; 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-worship = SABAISM; hence star-worshipper; † star-ypointing ppl. a. [erroneously formed], pointing to the stars.
1605. Shaks., Lear, III. iv. 60. Blisse thee from Whirle-Windes, *Starre-blasting, and taking.
1830. Carlyle, Richter & De Stael, Ess. 1840, II. 405. A lively people … can at least use *star-catalogues, and some planisphere thereof.
1866. Proctor, Handbk. Stars, 44. Aided by well-constructed *star-charts.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., xx. 341. 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds would be a day by the *‘star-clock.’
1870. Proctor, Other Worlds, xii. 288. In fact, each of the Nubeculæ is at once a *star-cluster and a cluster of nebulæ.
1608. Middleton, Fam. Love, IV. ii. G 1. Since these proiects haue had so *star crosse euents.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., Prol. 6. A paire of *starre-crost louers, take their life.
1600. Dekker, Fortunatus, H 1. The star-crost sonne of Fortunatus.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 4046/4. Another [Ring] with 3 Diamonds, *Star-cut.
1850. Holtzapffel, 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.
1870. Proctor, 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 sb.1 9].
1813. Mawe, Diamonds (1823), 79. The triangles on the bizel, adjacent to the girdle, are called skill facets, and those which join the table, star facets.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. cxxv. 393. Stalks … whereupon do grow faire yellow flowers, *star fashion.
1640. Parkinson, Theat. Bot., 132. The flower is purple, starre fashion, and yellow in the middle.
c. 1711. Petiver, Gazophyl., VII. lxviii. Wiltshire *Star-flint…. This Fossil is represented, as cut, polisht, and designed for a Snuff-box.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. *Star-fort.
1783. Justamond, trans. Raynal’s Hist. Indies, VI. 117. Fort Lewis … is but a wretched star-fort, incapable of much resistance.
1834–47. J. S. Macaulay, Field Fortif. (1851), 20. Star forts are usually constructed either on a triangle or on a square.
1892. Daily News, 27 May, 3/4. There was a mark on the right temple, where the blow had fallen, and from this point a fracture of the skull started. This ran round to the left side, where there was a *star fracture.
1784. Sir 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.
1847. Sir J. Herschel, Astron. Observ. Cape, 373. A system of star-gauges was set on foot.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2310/2. Star-Gage (Ordnance).
1870. Proctor, Other Worlds, Pref. 8. The fact that Sir William Herschel adopted an erroneous hypothesis as the basis of his system of *star-gauging.
1693. Dale, Pharmacol., 100. Asteria gemma, Offic. The Bastard-Opal or *Star-Gemm.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Star-Glint, a meteorite.
1879. Proctor, Flowers of Sky, ii. 24, note. The worship of *star-gods.
1905. Budge, Egypt. Heaven & Hell, II. 263. Three bearded beings, the ‘Star-gods.’
1854. Poultry Chron., I. 80/1. Two young Brahma Pootra fowls, not included in the catalogue (introduced as *star lots).
1866. Proctor, Handbk. Stars, 11. The projection and construction of *star-maps.
1900. W. B. Blaikie (title), Monthly Star Maps for the Year 1900.
1799. Hull Advertiser, 21 Dec., 4/1. The prize fund amounted … to *star pagodas 25 lacks 34.804.
1858. Beveridge, Hist. India, II. VI. v. 711. One lac of star pagodas (£40,000).
a. 1645. Milton, Arcades, 89. Under the shady roof Of branching Elm *Star-proof.
1871. Swinburne, Songs bef. Sunrise, Prelude 101. Star-proof trees.
1873. Lytton, Ken. Chillingly, I. xi. To all female fascinations he had been hitherto star-proof.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1109. The *star pulleys c, c.
1818. Keats, Endymion, IV. 589. The *Star-Queen’s crescent [cf. Horace, Carm. Saec., 35, siderum regina bicornis].
1580. Fermor Acc., in Archæol. Jrnl. (1851), VIII. 185. It. rec. of old gold, one *staw [sic] ryall, a duckett [etc.].
1606. Holland, Sueton., Annot. 34. Our olde Edward Star-Reals, or fifteene shilling peeces.
1702. Milit. Dict. (1704), *Star-Redoute, of four, of five, of six, or of more points, otherwise call’d an Estoile.
1632. Swed. Intelligencer, I. 112. The great *Starre-Sconce or Toll-house by the old Elue.
1875. Laslett, Timber, 178. The chief defect in Mexican Mahogany is the prevalence of *star-shake.
1883. M. 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.
1876. Will & 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.
1899. Daily News, 1 Dec., 3/4. There is also on board a large quantity of star shell, by which the enemy’s position can be ascertained after dark, and their camps shelled at any time.
1606. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. I. Tropheis, 216. ’Twixt Eridanus And th’ Heav’nly *Star-Ship.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, xviii. (1856), 178. The great star-ship down in the south.
1863. Athenæum, 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.
1898. Daily News, 14 April, 2/3. After a good deal of *star-shooting and other scientific operations, the meridian which divided the two countries was actually cut for some half mile through the bush.
1818. Shelley, Stanzas Written in Deject., ii. I see the waves upon the shore, Like light dissolved in *star-showers, thrown.
1869. Dunkin, Midnight Sky, 137. The memorable star-showers of November 1866, 1867, and 1868.
1621. Brathwait, Nat. Embassie (1877), 20. *Star-staring earthling, puff’d with insolence.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Worc. (1662), 182. They saw You gone, but whether could not tell, Star-staring, though they ask’d both Heaven and Hell.
1855. Dunglison, Med. Lex., Coup de Soleil,… Stroke of the sun, Ægyptian *Starstroke or Sunstroke.
1873. Routledge’s Young Gentl. Mag., 279/1. A *star trap is circular in form.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XV. 716/1. The *Star-wheel illuminated.
1848. Archæologia, 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.
1876. Preece & Sivewright, Telegraphy, 117. They admit the teeth of a little star wheel.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 243. That favourite study of the Chaldæans, astrology, ‘the mysteries,’ *star-worship. Ibid., 447. The milder form of idolatry, the *star-worshippers.
1630. Milton, Shaks., 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 hummingbird of the genus Heliomaster; also star-throated a. See also STAR-FISH.
1884. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 551. Asturina, *Star Buzzards.
1713. Petiver, Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ, Tab. i. Echinus planus … Wrinkled *Star-cake.
1856. Page, Adv. Text-bk. Geol., xiv. (1876), 245. *Star-corals.
1884. Goode, Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim., 841. The Star Corals (Orbicella annularis and cavernosa).
1815. S. Brookes, Conchol., 157. *Star Cowry. Cypræa Helvola.
1752. Hill, Hist. Anim., 507. Authors call it the Ruticilla and Phœnicurus; we, the Fire-tail, the *Star-finch, and the Red-start.
1668. Charleton, Onomast., 64. Accipiter Asterias, Astur … the *Star-hawk, or Egret.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXIX. iv. II. 361. Our Stellions or *Star-lizards here in Italie.
1854. A. Adams, etc., Man. Nat. Hist., 350. *Star-mouthed Worms (Strongylidæ).
1837. Penny Cycl., VII. 443/1. Condylura macroura (Harlan). Thick-tailed, *star-nose.
1859. Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., I. 429. Radiated Mole, or *Star-nosed Mole, Astromyctes cristatus.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 250. Of the wounding of the *Starre-Spyder feeblenes and weakenes followeth.
1862. Wood, 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. Ibid. (1862), 243. The *Star-throats. Ibid. The *Star-throated Humming-birds.
22. In names of plants: star-anemone, Anemone stellata (or hortensis); star-anise, Illicium anisatum or its fruit (from the stellate arrangement of the carpels); 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. See also STAR-APPLE, -FLOWER, -GRASS, -HEAD, -THISTLE, -WORT.
1812. New Bot. Gard., I. 28. The best *Star-Anemones are said to come from Brittany.
1882. Garden, 14 Jan., 14/2. The Star Anemone in some of its more distinct colours should be freely grown.
1838. Penny 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.
1884. W. Miller, Plant-n., 201. Grewia occidentalis, African *Star-bush.
1856. A. Gray, Man. Bot., 138. Sicyos, L. One-seeded *Star-Cucumber.
1857. Miss Pratt, Flowering Pl., V. 307. Actinocarpus (*Star-fruit).
1758. Borlase, Nat. Hist. Cornw., 233. Lesser autumnal *star-hyacinth.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 446. *Star-plum (Chrysophillum monopyrenum). A kind of star-apple, also called a Barbadoes Damson plum.
1904. Nature, 25 Aug., 408/1. The graceful *Star Primula.
b. In names for nostoc (as supposed to be shed from the stars): star-jelly, -slime, -slough, -slubber, -slutch: also star-fallen, -falling, and STAR-SHOT.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 474/2. Sterre slyme, assub.
1552. Elyot’s Dict., Aporrhocæ, certayne impressions in the ayer, which we call starre fallyng, because it so appereth to our sightes.
1712. J. 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.
1756. W. Watson, Leicestersh. Plants, in Phil. Trans., XLIX. 860. 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.
1766. Star Gelly [see JELLY sb. 2 b].
1779. Gentl. Mag., XLIX. 489. Dr. Lister conceived that star-slime is nothing but frogs dissolved and putrified in the air.
1781. J. Hutton, Tour to Caves (ed. 2), Gloss. 96. Starslubber, frog spawn.
1791. Gentl. Mag., LXI. I. 467. Tremella Nostoch … is in that county [Cheshire] called star-slutch.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), IV. 80. Star-slough.
1878. Cumbld. Gloss., Star-slime.
1882. J. 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).
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 96. Star of Bethelem.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, I. lxxxiii. 131. There be sundrie sorts of wilde field-onions called Star of Bethlehem.
1678. Salmon, 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.
1755. Gentl. Mag., XXV. 407. The Ornithogalums, or stars of Bethlehem.
a. 1806. Charlotte Smith, Flora’s Horologe, viii. Pale as a pensive cloistered nun, The Bethlem star her face unveils.
1845. S. Judd, Margaret, I. xiv. She got bunch-berries, and star-of-Bethlehems.
1847. Jerdon, in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, II. v. 212. I beg to send you … two specimens of the Yellow Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum luteum, Lin.).
1864. Grisebach, Flora W. Ind. Islands, 788. Star-of-Bethlehem, Hypoxis decumbens.
1651. T. 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.
1671–2. Roy. 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.
1738. Steward, in Phil. Trans., XL. 458. In Norfolk, my native County,… the Coronopus is called the Star of the Earth.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 96. Star of Jerusalem.
1665. Lovell, Herbal (ed. 2), 415. Starres of Jerusalem, see Josephs-flower.
23. Min. In names of precious stones that exhibit asterism, as star diamond, quartz, ruby, sapphire; STAR-STONE.
1805–17. R. Jameson, Char. Min., 256. Star-sapphire.
1829. Crawfurd, Jrnl. Emb. Crt. of Ava (1834), II. 201. The star ruby.
1887. Cassell’s Encycl. Dict., Star-diamond.
1896. Chester, Dict. Min., Star-quartz, a var. of quartz which exhibits asterism.
