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 2013, p. 260:

     Twilight deepened, and a flicker of star-shells wavered in the sky beyond Béthune.

   • 1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage 2014, p. 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 2010, p. 351:

     To deprive the enemy of any advantage they might gain at night, he had star shells which could light up the entire countryside.