asterisks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of asterisk.

   Rows of asterisks marked every disputed figure in the report.

   The editor scattered asterisks across the draft to flag each uncertain claim.

   Note

   The plural reaches across every meaning of the noun, not only the printed symbol. Rows of asterisks can mark footnotes or omitted letters, but in US usage an achievement can carry asterisks as blemishes, and in the Eucharist the word names star-armed instruments set over the paten. The same spelling also serves the verb's present form, so in "the editor asterisks the figures" the word is a verb, not a noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of asterisk.

   The style guide asterisks every term that requires an explanatory footnote.

   She always asterisks the figures she has not yet verified.

   Note

   A verb made straight from the noun, and always transitive: someone asterisks a term, a figure, a name. It covers two jobs, flagging text for a note and replacing letters with the symbol, as when a printed oath loses its middle. Its plainer synonym is to star. Because the spelling is shared with the plural noun, a direct object following the word is the sign that it is working as a verb.

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