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gal⋅ax⋅y

  [gal-uhk-see]
Use galaxy in a Sentence
–noun, plural -ax⋅ies.
1. Astronomy.
a. a large system of stars held together by mutual gravitation and isolated from similar systems by vast regions of space.
b. (usually initial capital letter) Milky Way.
2. any large and brilliant or impressive assemblage of persons or things: a galaxy of opera stars.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME galaxie, galaxias < ML galaxia, galaxias, ult. < Gk galaxías kýklos the Milky Way; see galacto-
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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gal·ax·y   (gāl'ək-sē)   
n.   pl. gal·ax·ies
    1. Any of numerous large-scale aggregates of stars, gas, and dust that constitute the universe, containing an average of 100 billion (1011) solar masses and ranging in diameter from 1,500 to 300,000 light-years. Also called nebula.
    2. often Galaxy The Milky Way.
  2. An assembly of brilliant, glamorous, or distinguished persons or things: a galaxy of theatrical performers.

[Middle English galaxie, the Milky Way, from Late Latin galaxiās, from Greek, from gala, galakt-, milk; see melg- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Galaxy

Gal"ax*y\, n.; pl. Galaxies. [F. galaxie, L. galaxias, fr. Gr. ? (sc. ? circle), fr. ?, ?, milk; akin to L. lac. Cf. Lacteal.]

1. (Astron.) The Milky Way; that luminous tract, or belt, which is seen at night stretching across the heavens, and which is composed of innumerable stars, so distant and blended as to be distinguishable only with the telescope. The term has recently been used for remote clusters of stars. --Nichol.

2. A splendid assemblage of persons or things.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : galaxy
Spanish: galaxia,
German: die Galaxie,
Japanese: 銀河
More Translations »

galaxy

A large, self-contained mass of stars.

Note: A common form for galaxies is a bright center with spiral arms radiating outward.
Note: The universe contains billions of galaxies.
Note: The sun belongs to the galaxy called the Milky Way.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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galaxy 
c.1384, from L.L. galaxias "Milky Way," from Gk. galaxis (adj.), from gala (gen. galaktos) "milk" (see lactation). The technical astronomical sense emerged 1848. Fig. sense of "brilliant assembly of persons" is from 1590. Milky Way is a translation of L. via lactea.
"See yonder, lo, the Galaxyë Which men clepeth the Milky Wey, For hit is whyt." [Chaucer, "House of Fame"]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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galaxy   (gāl'ək-sē)  Pronunciation Key 
  1. Any of numerous large-scale collections of stars, gas, and dust that make up the visible universe. Galaxies are held together by the gravitational attraction of the material contained within them, and most are organized around a galactic nucleus into elliptical or spiral shapes, with a small percentage of galaxies classed as irregular in shape. A galaxy may range in diameter from some hundreds of light-years for the smallest dwarfs to hundreds of thousands of light-years for the largest ellipticals, and may contain from a few million to several trillion stars. Many galaxies are grouped into clusters, with the clusters themselves often grouped into larger superclusters. See more at active galaxy, See also elliptical galaxy, irregular galaxy, lenticular galaxy, spiral galaxy.
  2. the Galaxy. The Milky Way.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Galaxy language
An extensible language in the vein of EL/1 and RCC.
["Introduction to the Galaxy Language", Anne F. Beetem et al, IEEE Software 6(3):55-62].
(1995-12-09)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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