star shell

English

Alternative forms
  • star-shell
  • starshell

Noun

star shell (plural star shells)

  1. (military) A type of ammunition shell which bursts to release a shower of stars for illuminating enemy positions etc.
    • 1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 260:
      Twilight deepened, and a flicker of star-shells wavered in the sky beyond Béthune.
    • 1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 5:
      The sky flickered with the flash of guns, and an occasional star-shell flooded their path with light.
    • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 351:
      To deprive the enemy of any advantage they might gain at night, he had star shells which could light up the entire countryside.

Anagrams
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.