stella

noun

1. A star-shaped structure.

   “Plants of this collection are several decimeters taller; the pedicels are more remote in the inforescence; the stellae are larger and form a less dense cover on plant parts, and the siliques are slightly larger than in the usual form of the species.”

   “Stems and young branches terete, viscid, densely ferruginous-tomentose with sessile to short-stalked pauciradiate stellae bearing greatly prolonged 4-6-celled midpoints, these 0.1-0.2 cm long, gland-tipped, strongly armed with ferruginous laterally compressed prickles, these broad-based and sparsely glandular in the basal quarter.”

   “The morphological and statistic analyses are also given to the stellae structure of Olivooides and Punctatus, which indicates that this structure is a result of adaptive evolu- tion to a lifestyle of fast-attaching after hatching, probably with the function of mucilage secretion.”

2. (US, alt-of)Alternative letter-case form of Stella.
3. A serving of Stella Artois, a brand of beer.

   “I'm going to have a few Stellas tonight.”

4. (Jamaica, derogatory, slang)A black woman who visits Jamaica as a sex tourist; named after the protagonist of How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998).

   “They often come thinking that Jamaican women are not going to like them, because they have heard from others in the United States that Jamaican women have a bad attitude and are upset that these “Stellas” are taking all of their men.”

name

1. A female given name from Latin.

   “What lovely names for girls there are! / There's Stella like the Evening Star,”

2. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of Stella Artois, a brand of beer.

   “Sheila goes out with her mate Stella / It gets poured all over her fella”

3. A town in South Africa.
4. A village in Missouri.
5. A village in Nebraska.
6. A town in Wisconsin.
7. A suburban area in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England (OS grid ref NZ1763).
8. (US)A gold coin with a face value of $4.00 proposed for use in the United States in the 19th century.