Stellify

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈstÉ›l.ɪ.faɪ/

Origin

From Middle English stellifien, from Middle French stellifier, from Medieval Latin stellificare, itself from Latin stella ("star") + faciō ("make, do").

Full definition of stellify

Verb

1. (transitive, mythology) To transform from an earthly body into a celestial body; to place in the sky as such''In Classical mythology, being stellified was about the greatest posthumous honor for a mortal.
• 1983, Douglas Brooks-Davies, The Mercurian Monarch: magical politics from Spenser to Pope, page 31By the 'hissing snake' Spenser presumably means the scorpion sent by Diana that killed Orion. Like Orion it, too, was stellified. But since, as Scorpio, it rises in the east as Orion's sign sets in the west, the two were regarded as being kept forever apart, Orion perpetually avoiding in the heavens his vanquisher on earth.
2. (transitive, astronomy) To turn into a star.
• 1989, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, 109: 75An alternative way to stellify the planet may be to not collapse Jupiter, but instead to introduce a collapsed object into its core.