asterisk

To mark or replace (text, etc.) with an asterisk symbol (*; noun sense 1.1); to star.

Noun

  1. A small star; also (by extension), something resembling or shaped like a star.
    • Add one Ray unto the common Luſtre; add not only to the Number but the Note of thy Generation; and prove not a Cloud but an Aſteriſk in thy Region. - c. 1670s (date written), Thomas Brown [i.e., Thomas Browne],...

    1. The star-shaped symbol *, which is used in printing and writing for various purposes, including to refer a reader to a note at the bottom of a page or in a margin, and to indicate the omission of letters or words; a star.

      • He is in the right to put the Aſteriſks, not the VVords into the text; becauſe They do indeed give us [notice, that there is in Them] as much additional meaning, as there vvould be in thoſe vvords vvhich they ſo...
      • I having been looking at your pamphlet, and shewing it, but I mention no names. I don't see the use of names, for my part, unless it be to put in asterisks. It is—yes—very, indeed. - 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth]...
      • There is no punctuation, but three signs are used, namely, 1st, the asterisc (※); 2nd, the obelus (—:); and 3rd, the two dots (:). The asteriscs indicate the words of the Hebrew text, not admitted by the Seventy into...

    2. The star-shaped symbol *, which is used in printing and writing for various purposes, including to refer a reader to a note at the bottom of a page or in a margin, and to indicate the omission of letters or words; a star.

      Something resembling or shaped like an asterisk symbol.

      • Using a crafting knife, cut a small asterisk shape in the center of each black circle. Gently pierce each asterisk with a wooden skewer to make a hole. Once done, simply insert your stove knobs, and you're almost ready!...

    3. The star-shaped symbol *, which is used in printing and writing for various purposes, including to refer a reader to a note at the bottom of a page or in a margin, and to indicate the omission of letters or words; a star.

      (figuratively) Something which is of little importance or which is marginal; a footnote.

      • I don't want to be an asterisk in my kids' lives. I don't want to be just some guy who sporadically appears and then disappears again. - 2016, Charles [Wesley] Marshall, “More SkyMiles, Less Family”, in The Good Dad...
      • The opposing view sees it as an abject failure and historically irrelevant. This verdict was neatly summed up by the New York Times financial columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin when he predicted, a year on from the event: "It...

    4. The star-shaped symbol *, which is used in printing and writing for various purposes, including to refer a reader to a note at the bottom of a page or in a margin, and to indicate the omission of letters or words; a star.

      (US, sports, figuratively) A blemish in an otherwise outstanding achievement.

      • They came into the tournament highly ranked, but with a little bit of an asterisk as their last two wins had been unconvincing.

    5. (Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism) An instrument with radiating arms resembling a star which is placed over the diskos (or paten) used during the Eucharist to prevent the veil covering the chalice and diskos from touching the host on the diskos.

      • Then he [the deacon] reverently covereth the holy Cup with the veil. Likewise he placeth the Asterisk upon the holy Diskos, and the veil over it, and saith the following prayer with the Priest, silently, […] - 1866,...
      • The asterisk is one of the sacred objects used in the Byzantine rite. It is placed on the paten to protect the Eucharistic bread from contact with the special veil that covers it. The name derives from the shape of the...
      • The diskos, then, typifies the heavens, and for that reason, it is round, and holds the Master of heaven. What is called the ‘asterisk’ represents the stars, especially the one at the birth of Christ, just as the veils...

      Synonyms: star-cover

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs- Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr Proto-Hellenic *astḗr Ancient Greek ᾰ̓στήρ (ăstḗr) Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Ancient Greek -ῐ́σκος (-ĭ́skos) Ancient Greek ἀστερῐ́σκος (asterĭ́skos)bor. Late Latin asteriscusder. Middle English asterisk English asterisk The noun is derived from Middle English asterisk [and other forms], from Late Latin asteriscus (“asterisk; small star”), from Ancient Greek ἀστερῐ́σκος (asterĭ́skos, “asterisk; small star”), from ᾰ̓στήρ (ăstḗr, “celestial body (star, planet, and other lights in the sky such as meteors)”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs- (“to burn; to glow”)) + -ῐ́σκος (-ĭ́skos, diminutive suffix). Doublet of asteriscus and piecewise doublet of starrish. Noun sense 1.1.2 (“something which is of little importance or which is marginal”) refers to the use of an asterisk to denote a...

Forms

asterisks asterisc asterix

Related

aster asterism asteroid ampersand asterisk and asterism at sign backslash bullet dagger degree symbol number sign prime tilde underscore vertical bar pipe

Derived

asteriskless asterisklike gender asterisk magic asterisk

Verb

  1. To mark or replace (text, etc.) with an asterisk symbol (*; noun sense 1.1); to star.
    • Bank of New Zealand Estates Company Share Account now stands, as we have already seen, at £1,089,722 17s. 7d., a reduction of £760,177 2s. 5d. having been effected by the writing off of share capital. But from the point...
    • She was determined to make the most of the trip, extracting some cultural capital from the emotional waste, and so read carefully through the Venice guidebooks she had brought, underlining the must-dos and asterisking...
    • [Alain] Jaubert's preface is the longest and most detailed in our corpus; […] It covers both [Edgar Allan] Poe's work in general and the specific content of the volume (Jaubert, ingeniously, adopts an ad hoc...

Forms

asterisks asterisking asterisked

Derived

asterisked unasterisked