(astronomy, dated) the Milky Way Galaxy, from before it was realized that the Milky Way was not the only "galaxy"

(now rare) The Milky Way; the apparent band of concentrated stars which appears in the night sky over earth.

To furnish with galaxies. / (archaic) To gather together into a luminous whole.

plural of galaxy

(astronomy) A galaxy where a significant fraction of the energy output is not emitted by the normal components of a galaxy.

(astronomy) A relatively nearby spiral galaxy in the Local Group, together with the Milky Way galaxy. It is at a distance of approximately 2.6 million light years from Earth, in the direction of the constellation Triangulum.

(astronomy) A galaxy that is undergoing a high rate of star formation

(astronomy) Any galaxy, considerably smaller than the Milky Way, that has only several billions of stars.

(astronomy) A galaxy which is has no spirals and is not elliptical.

(astronomy) A galaxy that, like spiral galaxies, has a flat disk, but unlike them has lost most of its interstellar matter and therefore has no spirals; considered a transitional form between spirals and elliptical galaxies.