Contextualizebeta

Milky Way

name

Etymology

From Middle English Milky Wey, a calque of Latin Via Lactea (literally “milky road”), a calque of Ancient Greek γαλαξίας (galaxías), referring to its appearance as a pale band of stars across the sky. Compare also Old English Īringes weġ (“Milky Way”), Old Norse Mjólkrhringr (“Milky Way”, literally “milk-ring, milk-circle”). The reference to the galaxy is an extension of the second sense.

  1. calqued from γαλαξίας
  2. calqued from Via Lactea
  3. inherited from Milky Wey

Definitions

  1. The Milky Way Galaxy, the galaxy in which Earth is located.

    • Holonyms: Local Group < Virgo Supercluster < Laniakea < Universe
    • Meronyms: Earth < Solar System < Orion Arm

  2. A broad band of diffuse white light, visible in the night sky

    A broad band of diffuse white light, visible in the night sky; our view of the dense portions of the Milky Way Galaxy from inside the galaxy.

    • […] a random shower of amber lights—a spray of golden sparks that […] glinted softly upon the sea of dark foliage like the pallid stars of the milky-way.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for Milky Way. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA