stardust
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈstɑːdʌst/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈstɑɹˌdʌst/
- Hyphenation: star‧dust
Noun
[edit]stardust (usually uncountable, plural stardusts)
- (literally)
- Small fragments of dustlike material found in space; specifically, a type of cosmic dust that formed from cooling gases ejected from presolar stars, which was then incorporated into the cloud from which the Solar System condensed.
- Synonyms: extraterrestrial dust, space dust
- We are all made of stardust.
- 2004 March 5, Ann N. Nguyen, Ernst Zinner, “Discovery of Ancient Silicate Stardust in a Meteorite”, in Science, volume 303, number 5663, Washington, D.C.: American Association for the Advancement of Science, , →ISSN, →OCLC, →PMID, page 1496:
- Presolar grains were isolated in primitive meteorites only 15 years ago. These grains of stardust formed in the atmospheres of evolved stars and in nova and supernova ejecta.
- (informal, dated) A distant cluster of stars resembling a cloud of dust, especially if the individual stars of which cannot be resolved with a telescope.
- (archaic) Small fragments in the Earth's atmosphere or on its surface originating from meteorites; meteor dust.
- Small fragments of dustlike material found in space; specifically, a type of cosmic dust that formed from cooling gases ejected from presolar stars, which was then incorporated into the cloud from which the Solar System condensed.
- (figuratively)
- Something imaginary or lacking substance.
- 1934, Virginia Woolf, Walter Sickert: A Conversation, London: Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, […], →OCLC, page 90:
- His [Sickert's] paint has a tangible quality; it is made not of air and star-dust but of oil and earth.
- An imaginary magic dust or powder that, when in one's eyes, supposedly causes one to view a person or thing favourably, even though this might not actually be warranted.
- My sister’s eyes were full of stardust – she’d spend hours lazily planning her future life when she would make her big break in the movies.
- An imaginary magic dust or powder supposedly able to give one charisma or other positive qualities; hence, charisma or glamour, especially that possessed by a celebrity.
- 2015 May 5, Steven Davidoff Solomon, “Sprinkling a Little Celebrity Stardust on Silicon Valley”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
- Why would experienced deal makers want rock stars and actors to advise them? Why would entrepreneurs seek their money? There is a certain cachet with all that stardust, of course, and perhaps some free publicity.
- Something imaginary or lacking substance.
Translations
[edit]small fragments of dust-like material found in space
|
distant cluster of stars resembling a cloud of dust
|
small fragments in the Earth's atmosphere or on its surface originating from meteorites
|
imaginary magic dust or powder that, when in one’s eyes, supposedly causes one to view a person or thing favourably, even though this might not actually be warranted
|
imaginary magic dust or powder supposedly able to give one charisma or other positive qualities
|
References
[edit]- ^ “stardust, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “stardust, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
[edit]
cosmic dust on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - stardust (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
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