Noun

(en noun)

An unexpected natural or man-made catastrophe of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life or sometimes permanent change to the natural environment.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= High and wet , passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.}}

An unforeseen event causing great loss, upset or unpleasantness of whatever kind.

*{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1

, passage=And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.}}

* 2003 ,

A nod means good, two nods; very good. And then there's the pursing of the lips: disaster .

Noun

(en noun)

(obsolete) A star.

*, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.94:

by the changes and enter-caprings of which, the revolutions, motions, cadences, and carrols of the asters and planets are caused and transported.

Any of several plants of the genus Aster ; one of its flowers.

* 1969 , (Vladimir Nabokov), , Penguin 2011, p.120:

On a sunny September morning, with the trees still green, but the asters and fleabanes already taking over in ditch and dalk, Van set out for Ladoga, N.A.

(biology) A star-shaped structure formed during the mitosis of a cell.