/ · 1894 Brewer’s · M · Milky Way (The)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A great circle of stars entirely surrounding the heavens. They are so crowded together that they appear to the naked eye like a “way” or stream of faint “milky” light. The Galaxy or Via Lactĕa.
“A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold
And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear,
Seen in the galaxy—that Milky Way,
Thick, nightly, as a circling zone, thou seest
Powdered with stars.”
Milton: Paradise Lost, vii. 577, etc.
· ·
Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
· 
· 