Milky Wayn.1. The galaxy containing the sun, solar system, and all of the individually visible stars in the night sky, along with various nebulae, star clusters, and dust clouds, thought to have a super-massive black hole at its center of mass.2. The broad meandering band of faint light that consists of stars from this galaxy and is often visible in the night sky.[Middle English, translation of Latin via lactea : via, way + lactea, feminine of lacteus, milky.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.Milky Way n 1. (Celestial Objects) the diffuse band of light stretching across the night sky that consists of millions of faint stars, nebulae, etc, within our Galaxy 2. (Celestial Objects) another name for the Galaxy [C14: translation of Latin via lactea]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014Milk?y Way? n. the spiral galaxy containing our solar system, seen as a luminous band stretching across the night sky and composed of approximately a trillion stars. [1350?1400; Middle English, translation of Latin via lactea; compare galaxy] Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.Milk·y Way (m?l?k?) The galaxy containing the solar system. It is visible as a broad band of faint light in the night sky.The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.Milky WayThe spiral galaxy home of our solar system. Its 150 billion stars extend for 500,000 light years and have existed for about 12 billion years.Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited