stella

plural stellae

1. biologyA star-shaped structure.

   Plants of this collection are several decimeters taller; the pedicels are more remote in the inforescence; the stellae are larger and form a less dense cover on plant parts, and the siliques are slightly larger than in the usual form of the species.

   1939 June, Reed C. Rollins, “Studies in the Genus Lesquerella”, in American Journal of Botany, volume 26, number 6, →DOI

   2 more examples

   Stems and young branches terete, viscid, densely ferruginous-tomentose with sessile to short-stalked pauciradiate stellae bearing greatly prolonged 4-6-celled midpoints, these 0.1-0.2 cm long, gland-tipped, strongly armed with ferruginous laterally compressed prickles, these broad-based and sparsely glandular in the basal quarter.

   1997 July, Maria de Fátima Agra, Michael Nee, “A new species of Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum (Solanaceae) from northeastern Brazil”, in Brittonia, volume 49, number 3, →DOI, page 350

   The morphological and statistic analyses are also given to the stellae structure of Olivooides and Punctatus, which indicates that this structure is a result of adaptive evolu- tion to a lifestyle of fast-attaching after hatching, probably with the function of mucilage secretion.

   2008 December, Fang Chen, XiPing Dong, “The internal structure of Early Cambrian fossil embryo Olivooides revealed in the light of synchrotron X-ray tomographic microscopy”, in Chinese Science Bulletin, volume 53, number 24, →DOI, page 3860

2. UShobbiesAlternative letter-case form of Stella.

1. A female given name from Latin.

   What lovely names for girls there are! / There's Stella like the Evening Star,

   1933, Eleanor Farjeon, “Girls' Names”, in Over the Garden Wall, Faber and Faber, page 91

2. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of Stella Artois, a brand of beer.

   Sheila goes out with her mate Stella / It gets poured all over her fella

   2006, “Sheila”, performed by Jamie T

3. A town in South Africa.
4. A village in Missouri.
5. A village in Nebraska.
6. A town in Oneida County, Wisconsin.
7. A suburban area in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England (OS grid ref NZ1763).
8. UShistoricalhobbiesA gold coin with a face value of $4.00 proposed for use in the United States in the 19th century.

plural Stellas

1. A serving of Stella Artois, a brand of beer.

   I'm going to have a few Stellas tonight.

2. JamaicaderogatoryslangA black woman who visits Jamaica as a sex tourist.

   They often come thinking that Jamaican women are not going to like them, because they have heard from others in the United States that Jamaican women have a bad attitude and are upset that these “Stellas” are taking all of their men.

   2018, Bianca C. Williams, The Pursuit of Happiness, Duke University Press, →ISBN