Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A placing among the stars; a cataloguing or catalogue of the stars.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A placing among the stars; a catalogue of stars.

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

  • noun A placing among the stars; a catalogue of stars.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek καταστερισμός ("star legend"), from καταστερίζω ("to place among the stars"), from κατά ("down") + ἀστήρ ("star").

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Examples

  • The same applies to the constellations, with which a number of legends are connected: "catasterism" or translation into the stars, became the natural conclusion of a great many tales.

    The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism Franz Cumont

  • The process of {174} assimilation with the gods and catasterism were known in the Orient long before they were practiced in Greece.

    The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism Franz Cumont

  • His opportunity to make an immortal ass of himself, to earn catasterism and be placed among the stars as an equine udder, thus happened to hap: Kay-See was to have a "Karnival" modeled upon the pinchbeck rake with which Waco worked the gullible country folk once upon a time -- when she so far forgot herself as to trade on womanly beauty to make it a bunco-steerer for her stores.

    The Complete Works of Brann the Iconoclast, Volume 10 1905

Comments

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  • *favorited*

    November 17, 2011

  • Leo, Leo Minor, and Lynx are modern constellations named for types of cats.

    Jérôme Lalande, French astronomer and writer, named an asterism Felis in 1799, but it is not recognized today.

    November 17, 2011

  • For Puss in eternal cat rhythm

    Her last breath is no cataclysm,

    For soon she will rise

    Installed in night skies.

    Her next stage is catasterism.

    June 2, 2016