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star·dust

(stärdŭst′)

1. Charm or attractiveness that stems from celebrity and tends to forestall criticism: "The relative unknowns ... bring enough style [to the musical] to make up for any perceived lack of stardust" (Charles Isherwood).

2. A dreamlike, romantic, or uncritical sense of well-being.

a. Dust formed in very hot gasses ejected from stellar atmospheres or in supernova explosions.

b. A cluster of stars too distant to be seen individually, resembling a dimly luminous cloud of dust. Not in scientific use.

c. Minute particles of matter that fall to Earth from the stars. Not in scientific use.

Idiom:

have stardust in (one's) eyes

To be uncritically or unrealistically optimistic.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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