star shell

plural star shells · alternative star-shell · alternative starshell

1. governmentA type of ammunition shell which bursts to release a shower of stars for illuminating enemy positions etc.

   Twilight deepened, and a flicker of star-shells wavered in the sky beyond Béthune.

   1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 260

   2 more examples

   The sky flickered with the flash of guns, and an occasional star-shell flooded their path with light.

   1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 5

   To deprive the enemy of any advantage they might gain at night, he had star shells which could light up the entire countryside.

   1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 351