[-LET.]
1. A small star. Also transf. of a flower.
1830. Carlyle, Richter Again, Ess. 1840, II. 363. The evening-star … hovers … above the rosy red, and, modest as a bride, deprives no single starlet of its light.
1863. H. Spencer, Ess., II. 8. Nebulæ may be comparatively near, though the starlets of which they are made up appear extremely minute.
1881. Blackie, Lay Serm., vii. 224. The smallest yellow starlet that peeps out from a grassy carpet in the spring.
2. A star-fish of the genus Asterina.
1854. A. Adams, etc., Man. Nat. Hist., 325. Full grown Starlets (Asterina).
1863. Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., III. 732. Gibbous Starlet, Asterina gibbosa.
3. A young actor.
1920. L. A. Times, 9 Jan., 26. The starlet [Baby Gloria Joy] at present is working with Charles Ray and has turned down a number of flattering theatrical offers, notably one to appear in a playlet on Pantages circuit.
