Definition of "instar" [in•star]

• To stud with or as if with stars. (verb-transitive)
• A stage of an insect or other arthropod between molts. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "[4] The convenient term 'instar' has been proposed by Fischer and advocated by Sharp (1895) for the form assumed by an insect during a stage of its life-story."
• "Cage experiments with first instar larvae and eggs."
• "With each instar the nymph becomes progressively more like an adult cockroach."