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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To stud with or as if with stars.
  2. n. A stage of an insect or other arthropod between molts.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To set or adorn with stars or with brilliants; star.
  2. To make a star of; set as a star.
  3. n. Any one of the periods of an insect's life between two molts. The period immediately after hatching is said to be the first instar, and that after the first molt the second instar. If a caterpillar molts four times the pupa is the sixth instar and the adult the seventh. The term originated with Fischer in 1853, but has only recently been generally adopted.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Any stage in the development or lifecycle of arthropods, between molts.
  2. n. A stage in development.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To stud as with stars.
  2. n. a postembryonic stage of life of an arthropod, especially an insect, between two successive molts; also, the arthropod when in that stage of life.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an insect or other arthropod between molts

Etymologies

  1. New Latin īnstar, from Latin, image, form.

Examples

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  • fbharjo between molts - in formation Jan 27, 2008

‘instar’ has been looked up 1324 times, loved by 2 people, added to 9 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 6.