Definition of "starburst"

starburst

noun
plural starbursts
1. A violent explosion, or the pattern (likened to the shape of a star) supposed to be made by such an explosion.
  Quotations
  […] his arm striking brick and the bottle shattering in a starburst of black […]
  2002, Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling, The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror
  A starburst of red exploded on his chest and he flew backward a good six or seven feet.
  2003, Tim Cockey, Murder in the Hearse Degree: A Novel
  […] and another that creates a cicatrix starburst from her right eye to her temple. This scar is the result of an accident when she was ten years old, […]
  2004, Elizabeth George, Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life
2. (typography) A symbol similar to an asterisk, but with additional rays: ✺.
3. (astronomy) A region of space with an unusually high rate of star formation.
4. (astronomy) A period in time during which a region of space experiences an unusually high rate of star formation.
verb
third-person singular simple present starbursts, present participle starbursting, simple past and past participle starbursted
1. (astronomy, of a region of space) To experience an unusually high rate of star formation.
2. To explode; to burst out violently via, or in such a manner as to cause, an explosion.
3. To make a starburst pattern.
4. To refract and sparkle.
  Quotations
  The faint light from the sky starbursted on a tear. Suddenly there was something appallingly human about her.
  1998, Graham Joyce, The Tooth Fairy

Definition of "starburst"

starburst

noun

Quotations

verb

Quotations