aster

noun

1. Any of several plants of the genus Aster; one of its flowers.

   “On a sunny September morning, with the trees still green, but the asters and fleabanes already taking over in ditch and dalk, Van set out for Ladoga, N.A.”

2. A star-shaped structure formed during the mitosis of a cell.
3. (obsolete)A star.

   “by the changes and enter-caprings of which, the revolutions, motions, cadences, and carrols of the asters [translating astres] and planets are caused and transported.”

name

1. A unisex given name from Latin.

   “Survivors include […] four sons, Albert Lee Rider of Rt. 2, Thomasville, Aster Ray Rider, A. G. Rider and Carl Eugene Rider, all of Rt. 2, Lexington; […]”

   “He was the husband of Aster Ann Daugherty, who survives, and a son of the late Shelby and Yettie Wyatt Daugherty.”

   ““Bzzmm…Dr. Leigh, I am Aster and this, is my sister Orchidea,” one of the Magi girls introduced and the girls both spread their wings with respectful grace.”

   “The new mum also longs for a good night’s sleep - baby Aster’s constant crying is keeping her awake, and she longs to ask Finn for help.”

2. A surname.

   “Carl Aster turned from the registration desk at the Sheraton Centre yesterday and saw an agreeable man stacking his load of packing cases on a baggage trolley. “You don't get this kind of welcome every time,” Mr. Aster, a shoe manufacturer from Chicago, said as Doug Pflaumer, a young Sheraton executive, did the work of a bellhop.”

   “The teacher, Samuel S. Aster, 60, was arrested shortly after midnight Friday after an 8-year-old girl had reported to her parents earlier that day that she had been sexually abused by Mr. Aster during a piano lesson at his Teaneck home.”

   “Like many horror movies, this one — the critically lauded, audience-dividing feature debut of Ari Aster — operates by means of a deft counterpoint of curiosity and dread.”