guest star

• guest-star

guest star (plural guest stars)

1. (music) A guest on a music or other recording.
   • 2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 6 August 2020:

     The neutering extends to Believe’s guest stars, with warm-and-fuzzy verses from Ludacris (“I love everything about you / You’re imperfectly perfect”), Big Sean (“I don’t know if this makes sense, but you’re my hallelujah”), Nicki Minaj (who at least squeaks a “bitches” into her verse), and especially Drake, whose desire to hug and kiss the object of his affection on “Right Here” is reminiscent of The Red Hot Chili Peppers on Krusty’s Comeback Special.

2. (television) An actor on a television program who stars in one, or a few, episodes.

guest star (third-person singular simple present guest stars, present participle guest starring, simple past and past participle guest starred)

1. Of an actor: to star as a guest.
2. (sports) Of a player: to play as a guest of another team.

Calque of Literary Chinese 客星 (kèxīng).

guest star (plural guest stars)

1. (astronomy) A nova or supernova recorded in Chinese astronomy which has appeared where no star was known before.

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