What does "five-star" mean?

A hard slap on bare skin with a hand that leaves a red, fully hand-shaped mark.

What is a synonym for "five-star"?

Common synonyms include: 5-star.

adj, noun, verb, slang

adj, noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Noun

1
A hard slap on bare skin with a hand that leaves a red, fully hand-shaped mark.
"He still owes me a five-star so I try not to let him catch me with my shirt off."
2
A mark from such a slap.
"Look at that five-star on my back! That bastard who gave it to me really has it coming."

Verb

1
To slap someone hard with the hand on bare skin, leaving a red, fully hand-shaped mark. informal, transitive
"My friend five-starred me after we got out of the pool. Do you have a shirt I can wear to cover it?"

Adjective

1
Of the best quality. idiomatic, not-comparable
"When we arrived, they gave us a five-star welcome."

"Tom usually stays at five-star hotels."

Etymology 1

From the hotel quality rating system used in many countries, using from one to five stars.

Etymology 2

From the five-pointed star of the red, hand-shaped mark from a slap on bare skin.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.