English

Noun

starburst ‎(plural starbursts)

1. A violent explosion, or the pattern (likened to the shape of a star) supposed to be made by such an explosion.
   • 2002: Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling, The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror

     ... his arm striking brick and the bottle shattering in a starburst of black ...

   • 2003: Tim Cockey, Murder in the Hearse Degree: A Novel

     A starburst of red exploded on his chest and he flew backward a good six or seven feet.

   • 2004: Elizabeth George, Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life

     ... and another that creates a cicatrix starburst from her right eye to her temple. This scar is the result of an accident when she was ten years old, ...

2. (typography) A symbol similar to an asterisk, but with additional rays: ✺.
3. (astronomy) A region of space with an unusually high rate of star formation.
4. (astronomy) A period in time during which a region of space experiences an unusually high rate of star formation.

   the Milky Way will see a starburst in approximately 200 000 000 years

See also

• starburst galaxy

Verb

starburst ‎(third-person singular simple present starbursts, present participle starbursting, simple past and past participle starbursted)

1. (astronomy, of a region of space) To experience an unusually high rate of star formation.