Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Topic: ASTRONOMY

Date: 1500-1600
Language: French
Origin: météore, from Medieval Latin meteorum, from Greek meteoron 'something in the sky', from meteoros 'high in air'

meteor

 noun
     
me‧te‧or [countable]
HA a piece of rock or metal that travels through space, and makes a bright line in the night sky when it falls down towards the Earth:
Astronomers track large meteors using radar.
a meteor shower (=a lot of meteors that fall down towards the Earth at the same time)
WORD FOCUS: space WORD FOCUS: space
vehicles used in space: spaceship, spacecraft, rocket, (space) shuttle, probe, satellite, space station
someone who travels in space: astronaut, cosmonaut Russian
parts of a rocket's journey: countdown, launch, blast-off/take-off/lift-off, leaving the earth's atmosphere, going into orbit, re-entering the earth's atmosphere, splashdown/touchdown
places and things in space: planet, moon, star, sun, satellite, solar system, constellation, galaxy, universe, the cosmos, black hole, quasar, comet, meteor, asteroid
the study of space: astronomyspace

➔ See also space
Definition of meteor from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
the topic ASTRONOMY
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The ASTRONOMY
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meteoric

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