Galaxy \Gal"ax*y\, n.; pl. Galaxies. [F. galaxie, L. galaxias,
   fr. Gr. ? (sc. ? circle), fr. ?, ?, milk; akin to L. lac. Cf.
   Lacteal.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. (Astron.)

   1. 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. --Nichol.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A very large collection of stars comparable in size to the
      Milky Way system, held together by gravitational force and
      separated from other such star systems by large distances
      of mostly empty space. Galaxies vary widely in shape and
      size, the most common nearby galaxies being over 70,000
      light years in diameter and separated from each other by
      even larger distances. The number of stars in one galaxy
      varies, and may extend into the hundreds of billions.
      [PJC]

   3. A splendid or impressive assemblage of persons or things;
      as, a galaxy of movie stars.
      [1913 Webster + PJC] Galban

	

	galaxy
    n 1: a splendid assemblage (especially of famous people)
    2: tufted evergreen perennial herb having spikes of tiny white
       flowers and glossy green round to heart-shaped leaves that
       become coppery to maroon or purplish in fall [syn: galax,
       galaxy, wandflower, beetleweed, coltsfoot, Galax
       urceolata]
    3: (astronomy) a collection of star systems; any of the billions
       of systems each having many stars and nebulae and dust;
       "`extragalactic nebula' is a former name for `galaxy'" [syn:
       galaxy, extragalactic nebula]

	

	74 Moby Thesaurus words for "galaxy":
   Milky Way, Via Lactea, army, barred spiral, barred spiral galaxy,
   big name, celebrity, cluster, cohue, constellation, cosmic noise,
   crowd, crush, cynosure, deluge, figure, flock, flood, folk hero,
   galactic circle, galactic cluster, galactic coordinates,
   galactic latitude, galactic longitude, galactic nebula,
   galactic noise, galactic pole, great man, heap, hero, heroine,
   horde, host, idol, immortal, important person, island universe,
   jam, legion, lion, luminaries, luminary, man of mark, mass,
   master spirit, mob, multitude, name, notability, notable, panoply,
   person of note, personage, pleiad, pop hero, popular hero,
   popular idol, press, public figure, rabble, rout, ruck,
   social lion, somebody, spate, spheroidal galaxy, spiral,
   spiral galaxy, spiral nebula, star, supergalaxy, superstar, throng,
   worthy

	

	Galaxy

    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)