instar means any one of the several stages of postembryonic development which an arthropod undergoes, between molts, before it reaches sexual maturity. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 82 out of 100.
instar is pronounced /ˈɪnstɑː/.
Etymology
From Latin instar (“form, likeness”), which is of obscure origin.
noun
- Any one of the several stages of postembryonic development which an arthropod undergoes, between molts, before it reaches sexual maturity.
- An arthropod at a specified one of these stages of development.“In A. orientalis, first and second instars were more susceptible than third instars to H. bacteriophora TF strain, […]”
- A stage in development.“We avoided Tourist Homes, country cousins of Funeral ones, old-fashioned, genteel and showerless, with elaborate dressing tables in depressingly white-and-pink little bedrooms, and photographs of the landlady’s children in all their instars.”
verb
- To stud or adorn with stars or other brilliants; to star.“Yet mark with shining steps the humbler way;
And, as angelic feet instar the sky,
Drop the bright sparks along the wilderness.”
- To make a star of; set as a star.