Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. 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.
- n. The Milky Way.
- n. An assembly of brilliant, glamorous, or distinguished persons or things: a galaxy of theatrical performers.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In astronomy, the Milky Way, a luminous band extending around the heavens. It is produced by myriads of stars, into which it is resolved by the telescope. It divides into two great branches, which remain apart for a distance of 150° and then reunite; there are also many smaller branches. At one point it spreads out very widely, exhibiting a fan-like expanse of interlacing branches nearly 20° broad; this terminates abruptly and leaves a kind of gap. At several points are seen dark spots in the midst of some of the brightest portions.
- n. Hence—2. Any assemblage of splendid, illustrious, or beautiful persons or things.
- n. Same as galax, 2: a play upon that name.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. 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.
- n. 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.
- n. A splendid or impressive assemblage of persons or things.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a splendid assemblage (especially of famous people)
- n. 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
- n. (astronomy) a collection of star systems; any of the billions of systems each having many stars and nebulae and dust
Etymologies
- From Old French galaxie, from Latin galaxias, from Ancient Greek γαλαξίας (galaksias, "Milky Way"), from γάλα (gala, "milk"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English galaxie, the Milky Way, from Late Latin galaxiās, from Greek, from gala, galakt-, milk. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term galaxy comes from the Greek root galakt, which means "milk" (a reference to our own Milky Way).”
“At the centre of the galaxy is a strange zone called the Void, protected by an Event Horizon.”
“Believing in the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy is another matter.”
“You know as well as I do that chasing us around the galaxy is a fruitless exercise.”
“For the same idea the Greeks used gala and kyklos, meaning milk and circle, hence our word galaxy.”
“Abstract: A galaxy is modeled as a stationary axially symmetric pressure-free fluid in general relativity.”
Experiments in Non-Relativistic Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND)
“The 11K sequence, which I'm danger of talking to death before it exists, is a trilogy charting our push into the galaxy from the solar system outwards.”
“On the game side of things, it's already well-known: next week's sequel is the second in a planned trilogy, telling the story of the human hero Commander Shepard and his efforts to save the galaxy from a malevolent force.”
“This golden spiral galaxy is named Messier 101 and is the visible light version of a series of images taken at different wavelenghts.”
“A fictional galaxy from the distant past was the setting for the Star Wars storyline.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘galaxy’.
-
Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 636 more...
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
-
Brand Theft Auto
A marque list for cars--models or companies who've used common words as their name.
explorer, navigator, frontier, mustang, quest, cougar, sidekick, legend, legacy, ranger, voyager, civic and 266 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
-
Especially
Being a list of words which have "especially" in their definitions.
wringing-machine, especially, device, field, scrip, hit, catch, take, buck, flip, effluvium, proselyte and 107 more...
-
Nature and Environment
north, east, west, mountain, sea, beach, river, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, island and 205 more...
-
geo-analitical description
words descriptive of nature
apex, aura, geometrical, illuminous, ambience, twilite, ember, angulation, jurassic, aclimatized, elevated, galaxy and 5 more...
-
Galactic Milk - words that lead the ...
conjectures on words related to the roots melg- and (ga)lakts-
galaxy, galena, milch, milk, lettuce, lactic, galenious, moojuice, galax, lactalbumin, emulsion, milch cow and 29 more...
-
Star Trek and Star Wars
Ridiculous American cheese, but entertaining all the same.
navigational shields, antiprotons, deflector, superluminal, spock, vulcan, warp speed, warp, captain, united earth, lieutenant, commander and 51 more...
-
♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
-
inquiryqueue's list
words delicious to pronounce
apostrophe, asphodel, anemone, cantaloupe, cantalevered, cardamom, coriander, petrichor, sycamore, luminous, tendril, peculiar and 122 more...
-
Color Words for Shoes
Vendors can get oddly creative.
amaranth, brindle, iguana, slate black, madder brown, bison, pinecone, seal brown, forest night, burnt orange, monument, beet red and 399 more...
-
science (collective opinion)
random scientific terms from a group of one hundred 16-18 year olds to choose 100 words that, in their collective opinion, represent crucial factors and concepts influencing trends in science today...
symbiosis, stem cell, solution, research, reaction, pressure, relativity, particle, probability, wave, organism, pollution and 90 more...
-
africasunsets's list
serendipity, fragrance, glamour, smitten, nourish, lavish, luxury, wicked, gem, daring, soothe, fantasy and 192 more...
-
Just 'cause I like 'em, G
grocer, gabanergic, gabardine, gabbro, gaffe, gneiss, grapple, grosgrain, grommet, gratify, gossamer, goofy and 194 more...
-
jagosaurus's favorites
Words I like mostly because of the way they sound and feel.
ticonderoga, petulance, snark, estimable, chickahominy, feline, gezellig, gneiss, shit, willy-nilly, shelter, coda and 366 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for galaxy.

oroboros The Mount Palomar observatory telescope's reflector (some 16 feet in diameter, I believe) sees this much of the sky in its field of vision: hold out a poppy seed at arm's length up against the sky and that's it! If the telescope were to pan the heavens 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it would take 1000 years to finally cover the night sky...and that's just the half it can see! Now, in that poppy-seed-field-of-view mostly what's seen are not stars, but GALAXIES, each containing untold billions of stars in its own right. Try to get your head around that!! This analogy, best as I remember, was presented in "First Light: the Search for the Edge of the Universe" by Richard Preston (1987). Highly recommended; a real cosmic thriller.
Edit: Another fact from Preston's book: The disk of the full moon covers at least 12,000 galaxies.
For more see moon. Feb 8, 2007