galaxy

Alternative forms

• (Milky Way Galaxy): Galaxy

Etymology

From Middle English galaxye, galaxie, from Old French galaxie, from Latin galaxias, from Ancient Greek γαλαξίας (galaxías, “Milky Way”), shortening of γαλαξίας κύκλος (galaxías kúklos, “milky circle”), from γάλα (gála, “milk”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡæl.ək.si/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

galaxy (plural galaxies)

1. (now rare) The Milky Way; the apparent band of concentrated stars which appears in the night sky over earth. [from 14th c.]
   • 1633, John Donne, Sapho to Philænis:

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

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

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

3. (astronomy) Any 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. [from 19th c.]
4. (figuratively) An assemblage of things or people seen as luminous or brilliant.
   • 1936 December, Thrilling Wonder Stories, page 127, column 1:

     [a] galaxy of science fiction stars.

5. (Should we delete⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (fashion, design) Any print or pattern reminiscent of a galaxy, generally consisting of blending, semiopaque patches of vibrant color on a dark background.
   • 2016, Reyna Young, Hanover Falls‎, page 42:

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

   • 2017, Rebekah L. Purdy, Incriminating Dating‎:

     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.

   • 2018, Isabel Scheck, Survival‎, page 15:

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

Verb

galaxy (third-person singular simple present galaxies, present participle galaxying, simple past and past participle galaxied)

1. To furnish with galaxies.
   • 1836, anonymous author, “The Victim Bride: A Tale of Monadnock”, in The Philadelphia Visiter, volume 1, number 14, page 53:

     […] 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; […]

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

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

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

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

2. (archaic) To gather together into a luminous whole.
   • 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:

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

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

     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.

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

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

References

• galaxy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia