starry, a.
(ˈstɑːrɪ)
Forms: 4–5 sterry, 5 sterri, 6 sterrie, starrye, 6–7 starrie, 6– starry.
[f. star n.1 + -y.]
1. Of the sky, night, etc.: Full of stars, spangled or lit up with stars.
The phrases starry heaven, starry sphere, etc. were formerly used spec. = the ‘sphere’ of the fixed stars.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. met. ii. (Camb. MS.) (1886) 24 As many rychesses as ther shynyn bryhte sterres in heuene on the sterry nyhtes. c 1403 Lydg. Temple of Glas 1100 Nou blisful goddes, doun fro þi sterri sete, Vs to fortune, caste ȝour stremes shene. 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 7 The Firmament..hath in it an infinite numbre of starres, wherof it is called the Starrye skie. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 356 The starrie Welkin couer thou anon With drooping fogge. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 208 Many times we lay in the field under the starry canopy. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 992 The Starrie Cope Of Heav'n. 1684 Contempl. St. Man ii. i. (1699) 137 The only thickness of the starry Sphere is said to contain as much as the whole space betwixt that and the Earth. 1709 Addison Tatler No. 119 ¶2 While you are admiring the Sky in a Starry Night. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 417 The starry heaven which we behold. |
| fig. 1657 J. Watts Scribe, Pharisee etc. iii. 51 Those starry times of the Apostles, and those Sunshining dayes of Christ Jesus. 1864 Swinburne Atalanta 1077 Shall they..like flowers Be shed and shine before the starriest hours..? |
2. a. Of or relating to the stars; consisting of stars.
| 1594 Barnfield Affect. Sheph. ii. ix, By the bright glimmering of the Starrie light. 1645 W. Lilly (title) The Starry Messenger. 1651 Davenant Gondibert iii. vi. 31 Night had put all her Starry Jewels on. 1700 Moxon Math. Dict. (ed. 2) s.v. Solar, The Sidereal or Starry year, is the space wherein the Sun comes back to any particular fixed Star. 1805 Herschel in Phil. Trans. XCV. 58, I saw the asteroid, which in its true starry form has left the place where I saw it Sept. 29{supt}{suph}. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. vi, The bright moon with her starry court. 1878 Newcomb Pop. Astron. iv. ii. 461 The starry system. |
b. Relating to, or caused by, the ‘influence’ of the stars.
| 1831 Lytton Godolphin xxvii, We must do our best to contradict the starry evils by our own internal philosophy. |
c. applied to an astronomer.
nonce-use.
| 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. liv, The starry Galileo. |
d. Of or pertaining to stars in the world of entertainment.
| 1907 G. B. Shaw Let. 24 May (1972) II. 690, I have..utterly rejected the starry part of it [sc. a production of Man & Superman]. 1918 R. Wagner Film Folk 8 The starry firmament of Los Angeles. 1929 H. G. Wells King who was King i. 30 The film entrepreneur..has to secure the services of a starry lady. 1959 Manch. Guardian 30 Jan. 7/1 One of the most persistent critical complaints about Miss Dresdel has been her tendency to shine too brightly even in the starriest company. 1981 Times 24 Jan. 7/2 Gertrude Lawrence..needed something very big, something very starry. |
3. Shining like a star or like stars, bright as a star, star-like.
| 1608 D. T[uvill] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 101 Captivated by the powerfull attraction of their [sc. women's] starry looks. c 1630 Milton Passion 18 His starry front low-rooft beneath the skies. 1636 Shirley Duke's Mistr. iv. i. (1638) H 1 b, Bright in thy sorrowes, on whom every teare Sits like a wealthy Diamond, and inherits A Starry lustre from the eye that shed it. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 446 And th' other whose gay Traine Adorns him, colour'd with the Florid hue Of Rainbows and Starrie Eyes. 1757 Gray Bard 112 Sublime their starry fronts they rear. 1866 Lytton Lost Tales of Miletus, Oread's Son xvi. 96 The fountain stirred, And from it rose a mist of starry spray. 1867 A. J. Wilson Vashti xxv, There was a dangerous, starry sparkle in her eyes. |
| fig. c 1610 Women Saints 103 This starrie gemme shall ere long be taken from vs into the Saints contrie. 1840 Browning Sordello i. 282 Rather, test qualities to heart's content; Summon them, thrice selected, near and far; Compress the starriest into one star. 1862 Swinburne Sonn. to J. Nichol 13 The starry spirit of Dobell. |
4. Shaped like the conventional figure of a star with rays projecting from a centre; arranged in the form of a star; in
Bot. = stellate.
| 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. ii. Magnif. 662 The starry-flowers. 1629 Parkinson Paradisus 131 The early blew starry Iacinth. 1755 J. Ellis Corallines Introd. 12 Till the Polypes had extended themselves out of their starry Cells. 1781 Cowper Charity 552 Guns, halberts, swords, and pistols, great and small, In starry forms dispos'd upon the wall. 1794 Kirwan Min. (ed. 2) I. 88 The striæ..diverging as from a common center, or starry. 1873 Livingstone in Blaikie Life xxii. (1881) 440 Grasses with white starry seed-vessels. |
5. Sprinkled or studded with star-like forms. Chiefly
Nat. Hist. † starry coral,
starry stone = star-stone 2.
| 1611 Cotgr., Raye estelée, the starrie Skate, the rugged Ray. 1653 R. Sanders Physiogn. 56 If [this line of the Head] be starry towards the plain of Mars. 1661 Boyle Cert. Physiol. Ess. (1669) 56 Eminent Chymists..have often failed in their endeavours to make the Starry Regulus of Mars and Antimony. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 87 Astroites or starry-stones, such as in bulk are irregular, but adorned all over with many stars. 1681 Grew Musæum i. §ii. iii. 45 Stellio, or the Starry-Lizard. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iv. 177 The Astroites, or Starry-Stone, as well that sort with the Prominent, as that with the Concave Stars. 1712 J. Morton Nat. Hist. Northamptonsh. 183 Some Sorts of Starry Coral. 1781 Latham Gen. Synop. Birds I. i. 79 Starry Falcon..marked with spots resembling stars. 1835 Jenyns Man. Brit. Vertebr. 517 Raia radiata, Don. (Starry Ray). 1861 All Year Round 1 June 237 Spring meadows starry with primroses. 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 184 The Starry Flounder, Pleuronectes stellatus. 1884 Coues N. Amer. Birds 465 Stellula, Starry Hummers. |
6. Comb.| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 201 His azure wings, and Starry-golden tail. 1633 Johnson Gerarde's Herbal ii. xcvi. (1636) 417 Starry headed small Water Plantaine. 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 66 The night..not cloudy, but starry-bright. 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Thistle, The Calcitrapa, or starry-headed Thistle. 1814 Sir W. Herschel Sci. Papers (1912) II. 526 Starry-nebulous patches. |