Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A bright trail or streak that appears in the sky when a meteoroid is heated to incandescence by friction with the earth's atmosphere. Also called falling star, meteor burst, shooting star.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Any atmospheric phenomenon.
- n. Specifically A transient fiery or luminous body seen in or through the atmosphere, usually in its more elevated region: a shooting-star. If it reaches the surface of the earth, it is called a meteorite, formerly aërolite, and also (very rarely) uranolite.
- n. A small body moving in space, and of the same nature as those which become visible by encountering our atmosphere. There is reason to suppose that such bodies are very numerous, and that a large proportion of them are concentrated in swarms: it is considered very probable that a comet is only such a meteoric swarm.
- n. An abbreviation of meteorology, meteorological.
Wiktionary
- n. A fast-moving streak of light in the night sky caused by the entry of extraterrestrial matter into the earth's atmosphere: A shooting star or falling star.
- n. juggling A prop similar to poi balls, in that it is twirled at the end of a cord or cable.
- n. martial arts A striking weapon resembling a track and field hammer consisting of a weight swung at the end of a cable or chain.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Any phenomenon or appearance in the atmosphere, as clouds, rain, hail, snow, etc.
- n. Specif.: A transient luminous body or appearance seen in the atmosphere, or in a more elevated region.
- n. A mass of stone or other substance which sometimes falls to the earth from space beyond the moon, burning up from atomospheric friction and creating a brilliant but usually very brief trail of light in the atmosphere; also called a
shooting star .
WordNet 3.0
- n. (astronomy) any of the small solid extraterrestrial bodies that hits the earth's atmosphere
- n. a streak of light in the sky at night that results when a meteoroid hits the earth's atmosphere and air friction causes the meteoroid to melt or vaporize or explode
Etymologies
- Of Middle English origin, derived from the Latin meteorum, from the Ancient Greek μετέωρον (meteōron), from μετέωρος (meteōros, "raised from the ground, hanging, lofty"), from μετά (meta, "in the midst of, among, between") + ἀείρω (aeiro, "to lift, to heave, to raise up"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English metheour, atmospheric phenomenon, from Old French meteore, from Medieval Latin meteōrum, from Greek meteōron, astronomical phenomenon, from neuter of meteōros, high in the air : meta-, meta- + -āoros, lifted; akin to āeirein, to lift up. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term meteor shower is somewhat misleading, because the streaks of light are generally caused by space debris no bigger than grains of sand, which hit and then burn up in the”
“The term meteor for what is usually called a shooting star bears an unfortunate resemblance to the term meteorology, the science of weather and weather forecasting.”
“In Meteor, a giant meteor is hurtling toward the earth threatening to destroy it (been there, done that).”
“Not only that, but an antimatter meteor from the Lucifer system struck Earth, wiped out the dinosaurs, allowed mammals to find their niche, and produced humans -- in other words, Lucifer brought about original sin.”
“Every 33 years, the Leonids put on a truly spectacular display of more than a thousand meteors per hour in what is known as a meteor storm.”
“Our joys were dearer because we saw their end; they were keener because we felt, to its fullest extent, their value; they were purer because their essence was sympathy -- as a meteor is brighter than a star, did the felicity of this winter contain in itself the extracted delights of a long, long life.”
“Finally, sit back and enjoy the show as bits of leftover comet burn up in our atmosphere, creating the celestial displays that we call meteor showers.”
“Whether Godzilla’s attacking, a meteor is about to hit Metropolis or every car in town has mysteriously turned bright pink, a journalist will have something to do.”
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Common Superhero Day Jobs, Part 1
“Most eccentric design move of the day was Art Center's decision to build its "meteor" - potatoes and tennis balls flung into the air - catcher by laying duct tape sticky side up on the field and then applying the cloth to it rather than vice versa, as every other team did.”
“s that land like meteors in meteor looking space craft [It Came from Outer Space, 1953].”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘meteor’.
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Specifically
Being a list of words which have "specifically" in their definitions.
recompose, specifically, Dutch, abstinence, discipline, virtue, namely, opening, century, amalgamation, cup, second and 303 more...
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Starring
Anything and everything astronomically related.
cosmos, stars, fiery, furnace, blackness, void, expanse, constellation, constitution, comet, meteor, orion
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161 Unit 3: Ch.5 Earth's Atmosphere
This list contains required vocabulary words included in the three Readings in Unit 3, Chapter 5, titled: Earth's Atmosphere. This list is intended for all Kuwait University students enrolled in Sc...
time, a, at, one, words, add, composition, meteor, blanket, blanketed, lungs, shield and 8 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (M)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
mace, macintosh, madras, magenta, magic 8 ball, magma, mahogany, maiden, mail, mainsail, maize, malachite and 169 more...
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Most of the Nouns from Joanna Newsom'...
meadowlark, sparrow, spree, pharoah, pharisees, comb, meadow, pines, marrow, bones, birches, spires and 95 more...
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words found to be generally pleasing
alabaster, mahogany, camphor, coalesce, spire, portmanteau, gadabout, palaver, dolor, dour, dun, luminesce and 610 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, M
metamerism, malady, margin, marauder, maverick, mercury, mirth, mandible, macerate, meteor, manumission, mica and 292 more...
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Rose varieties
Rosarians have names for thousands of varieties of roses.
holy toledo, gourmet popcorn, apple jack, barbara bush, burning desire, hot tamale, tradescant, sweet surrender, sweet chariot, pinocchio, oyster pearl, olympiad and 309 more...
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mandarine's Words
antepenultimate, metonymy, synecdoche, pop, kern, inherit, clique, scrumptious, macerate, murmur, kerning, veranda and 1068 more...
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oldecat's Words
noncommutative, morphodynamics, ferrywoman, circumcircle, acceleration, inactivity, biodiesel, corrosion, quadrilogy, imprimitivity, normalizer, teleosemantics and 240 more...
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Parts of the Universe
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Tulip Names I
No rhyme or reason other than that I like the names. :-) For more flower fun, see these lists:
Rose words by mollusque
Rose varieties by mollusque
Tulip Names II: You Know ...abbey dream, abbey road, abodement, abra, abra elite, academician tstisin, acapulco, ace of diamonds, acropolis, ad hoc, adamo, addis and 597 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2263 more...
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junestag's Words
postmodernism, cat, fish, rabbit, dell, coffee, elearning, mazda, php, mysql, flash, blogger and 755 more...
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Benandanti
All things Light
aureole, aura, aurora borealis, aglow, lucent, lambent, radiant, bright, burn, fire, solstice, brazier and 94 more...
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thricedotted's Words
schadenfreude, vanquish, calumny, obsequious, rhapsody, expostulate, promontory, bordello, quintessence, catharsis, recapitulation, myriad and 937 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for meteor.
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