Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A shape or design with emanating rays that resembles the flash of light produced by an exploding star.
  • noun An unusually rapid and intense burst of star formation in a galaxy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A violent explosion, or the pattern (likened to the shape of a star) supposed to be made by such an explosion.
  • noun typography A symbol similar to an asterisk, but with additional rays: ✺.
  • noun astronomy A region of space with an unusually high rate of star formation.
  • noun astronomy A period in time during which a region of space experiences an unusually high rate of star formation.
  • verb astronomy, of a region of space To experience an unusually high rate of star formation.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

star +‎ burst

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Examples

Comments

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  • A gem cut patented and trademarked by the Louis Glick Diamond Corp. of New York in 1978, designed to focus color near the top of a stone, making the hue of fancy yellow diamonds more intense.

    September 24, 2007

  • A pattern found in a phylogenetic analysis where diversification occurred so rapidly that it cannot be resolved into a bifurcating tree, but is represented as a starburst.

    November 7, 2007

  • A chewy, square-shaped, fruit-flavored candy - the U.S. incarnation (as it were) of Opal fruits.

    November 7, 2007

  • Heehee.

    November 8, 2007

  • The result of stepping on starfruit

    November 8, 2007

  • It's like bubble wrap but, you know, with exploding nebulae and all that shit.

    November 26, 2009

  • A dying star is so sad. :-(

    A bursting one is...well...sadder.

    But I love the 'chewy, squar-shaped, fruit-flavoured candy', especially the ones with the liquidy, juicy stuff inside.

    November 27, 2009

  • Oh, you mean "Opal fruits"?

    November 27, 2009