galaxy

plural galaxies · alternative Galaxy

1. archaicThe Milky Way; the apparent band of concentrated stars which appears in the night sky over earth.First known use 14th c.

   So may thy cheekes red outweare scarlet dye, / And their white, whitenesse of the Galaxie [...].

   1633, John Donne, Sapho to Philænis

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   Grecian imagination ascribed to the galaxy or milky way an origin in the teeming breast of the queen of heaven[.]

   1833, Thomas Keightley, Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 5

2. astronomyAny of the collections of many millions or billions of stars, galactic dust, black holes, etc. existing as independent and coherent systems, of which there are billions in the known universe.First known use 19th c.
3. figurativelyAn assemblage of things or people seen as luminous or brilliant.

   [a] galaxy of science fiction stars.

   1936 December 28, Thrilling Wonder Stories, page 127, column 1

4. artsAny print or pattern reminiscent of a galaxy, generally consisting of blending, semiopaque patches of vibrant color on a dark background.

   Her walls and ceiling were covered with galaxy wallpaper; it was like stepping into space.

   2016, Reyna Young, Hanover Falls, page 42

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   Her nerdy glasses sat perched on her face, and she wore a May the Force Be With You T-shirt with a black lace skirt, galaxy leggings, and a pair of white Star Wars Vans.

   2017, Rebekah L. Purdy, Incriminating Dating

   She hurriedly said that she found an^([sic]) faded galaxy blanket. She loved galaxy patterned things.

   2018, Isabel Scheck, Survival, page 15

present singular third person galaxies · participle present galaxying · participle past galaxied · past galaxied · alternative Galaxy

1. transitiveTo furnish with galaxies.

   To be dwarfed in a galaxied sky, / doming, arcing, and revolving over / The little space I briefly occupy.

   2018, Adrian G. R. Scott, “A Canticle to Creatureliness”, in A Night Sea Journey

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   […] how he struggled at one time like a desperate man fiercly ^([sic]) grappling with his mortal foe, and at another like a sanguine lover and noble minded youth, as the cliffy rocks impeded his progress, or dimmed the view he had caught of an aperture, through which the galaxied firmament was seen in its purity and holiness glowing with diamonds and saphires; […]

   1836, anonymous author, “The Victim Bride: A Tale of Monadnock”, in The Philadelphia Visiter, volume 1, number 14, page 53

   In dazzling light expands the mighty Dome: / Mirror of Heaven,—but Heaven when she doth wear / All galaxied with Stars her flashing hair!

   1838, John Edmund Reade, Italy: a poem, in six parts, page 138

2. archaictransitiveTo gather together into a luminous whole.

   How dazzling must their brightness be when they are galaxied in a single bosom!

   1844, Horace Smith, Arthur Arundel: A Tale of the English Revolution, volume 1, page 172

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   Let all their Vertues then be Galaxied into this one Indiſtinct Luſtre, they vvere Faithful Servants of Chriſt, and Sufferers for their being ſo.

   1702, Cotton Mather, “[Book III (Polybius. […]).] Chapter I. Remains of the First Classis.”, in Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, the Ecclesiastical History of New-England, from Its First Planting in the Year 1620. unto the Year of Our Lord, 1698. […], London: […] Thomas Parkhurst, […], →OCLC, 4th part (Remains: Or, Shorter Accounts of Sundry Divines, […]), page 213, column 1

   The brilliancies on one page of Lalla Roohk ^([sic]) would have sufficed to establish that very reputation which has been in a great measure self-dimned by the galaxied lustre of the entire book.

   1841, Edgar Allan Poe, “Review of New Books”, in Graham’s Magazine, volume 18, number 5, page 249

1. datedproscribedastronomySynonym of Milky Way Galaxy (“our galaxy”).

   See yonder, lo, the Galaxyë / Which men clepeth the Milky Wey, / For hit is whyt.

   1380, Geoffrey Chaucer, The House of Fame

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   So may thy cheekes red outweare scarlet dye, / And their white, whitenesse of the Galaxie […]

   1633, John Donne, Sapho to Philænis

   Synonyms: Milky Way Galaxy