/kway"zahr, -zeuhr, -sahr, -seuhr/ , n. Astron.
one of over a thousand known extragalactic objects, starlike in appearance and having spectra with characteristically large redshifts, that are thought to be the most distant and most luminous objects in the universe. Also called quasi-stellar object .
[ 1960-65; quas ( i-stell ) ar, in QUASI-STELLAR RADIO SOURCE, the first type of quasar discovered ]