The Collaborative International Dictionary
Via Lactea
Via \Vi"a\, n. [L. See Way.] A road way.
Via Lactea [L.] (Anat.), the Milky Way, or Galaxy. See Galaxy, 1.
Via media [L.] (Theol.), the middle way; -- a name applied to their own position by the Anglican high-churchmen, as being between the Roman Catholic Church and what they term extreme Protestantism.
Usage examples of "via lactea".
Theophrastus called it the Via Lactea, the Milky Way, and said it was a seam where the two hemispheres of the celestial sphere were joined together.
The whole cohort now remained at a standstill, and as the torches faded I watched what I thought were fantastic shadows outlined in the sky by the spectral luminosity of the Via Lactea as it flowed through Perseus, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Cygnus.