meteor
(ˈmiːtɪə(r))
Also 6 metior, 6–7 meteore, 7 meator, meatu(a)re, meteour.
[ad. mod.L. meteōrum, a. Gr. µετέωρον in pl. = atmospheric phenomena, subst. use of µετέωρος raised, lofty, ‘sublimis’, f. µετα- meta- + ἐωρ- ablaut-var. of the root of ἀείρειν to lift up. Cf. F. météore (13–14th c.), It. meteora, Sp., Pg. meteoro.]
1. Any atmospheric phenomenon. Now chiefly confined to technical use.
Atmospheric phenomena were formerly often classed as aerial meteor or airy meteors (winds), aqueous meteor or watery meteors (rain, snow, hail, dew, etc.), luminous meteors (the aurora, rainbow, halo, etc.), and igneous meteor or fiery meteors (lightning, shooting stars, etc.).
| 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. Ep. iii. in Ashm. Theat. Chem. Brit. (1652) 111 In the boke of Meteors. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 352 Hoare frostes,..and such like colde meteors. 1602 Rowlands Tis Merrie when Gossips meete 13 A vicious man is like a fyrie Meature, Which shewes farre off a terror to the eye. 1604 Jas. I Counterbl. (Arb.) 104 Vapours..are..turned into raine and such other watery Meteors. 1659 Stanley Hist. Philos., Epicurus (1687) 902/1 These are the aerial Meteors... We shall begin with the Clouds. 1857 S. P. Hall in Merc. Marine Mag. (1858) V. 10 The centre of the meteor [a cyclone] passing to the southward of the island. 1866 Whittier Snow-Bound 46 In starry flake, and pellicle, All day the hoary meteor fell. 1905 Edin. Rev. Jan. 220 It is therefore incumbent on him to study the nature of these meteors [typhoons]. |
2. spec. a. A luminous body seen temporarily in the sky, and supposed to belong to a lower region than that of the heavenly bodies; a fireball or shooting star (in the 17th c. also
† a comet).
In its modern restricted use, the term may be scientifically defined to mean: A small mass of matter from celestial space, rendered luminous by the heat engendered by collision with the earth's atmosphere.
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. iv. 9 And Meteors fright the fixed Starres of Heauen. 1608 D. T[uvil] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 90 The difference betweene a starre, and a Meteor. 1609 R. Armin Maids of More-Cl. (1880) 96 Pine let me in them, if the Sonne of hope Shine as a troubled meatuare in the sky. a 1625 Fletcher Hum. Lieut. iv. viii, I am above your hate, as far above it,..As the pure Stars are from the muddy meators. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 537 Th' Imperial Ensign..Shon like a Meteor streaming to the Wind. 1680 Evelyn Diary 12 Dec., I saw a meteor of an obscure bright colour, very much in shape like the blade of a sword. 1695 Prior Eng. Ballad on Taking Namur xii, If thou hadst dubb'd thy star a meteor, That did but blaze, and rove, and die. 1750 Phil. Trans. XLVII. 3 A meteor was seen at Norwich by thousands of people. 1819 S. Rogers Hum. Life 35 And such is Human Life;..It glimmers like a meteor and is gone. 1878 Newcomb Pop. Astron. iii. v. 388 The varied phenomena of aërolites, meteors, shooting-stars. |
b. Applied to other luminous appearances, as the aurora borealis, the ignis fatuus, etc.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. v. 13 Yond light is not daylight,..It is some Meteor that the Sun exhales. 1783 Hey in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 39 A species of that kind of meteor called aurora borealis. 1786 tr. Beckford's Vathek 176 Those phosphoric meteors that glimmer by night in places of interment. 1847 Lytton Lucretia ii. Epil. III. 295 You may enlighten the clod, but the meteor still must feed on the marsh. 1868 Farrar Silence & V. ii. (1875) 4 That he may plunge after the delusive meteor which flickers hither and thither over the marsh of death. |
† c. next the meteors: high up.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1638 Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. III.) 49, I always find you in the chamber next to the Meteors; which high region I conceive you have chosen, that you may be the nearer to take the inspirations of heaven. |
d. loosely. A meteoroid.
| 1884 Leisure Hour Nov. 681/1 To the meteors which thus move in streams the appropriate designation meteoroids has recently been given. 1903 A. R. Wallace Man's Place in Universe vi. 119 Collisions of meteors within each swarm or cloud would produce luminous nebulosity. |
3. transf. and
fig. (from sense 2 a).
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. ii. 6 His hearts Meteors tilting in his face. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. 1. §13 The Devils do know Thee, but those damnèd meteors Build not Thy Glory, but confound Thy Creatures. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 208 ¶3, I have seen the Meteors of fashion rise and fall. 1769 G. White Selborne (1789) 70 Th' impatient damsel hung her lamp on high: True to the signal, by love's meteor led, Leander hasten'd to his Hero's bed. |
† 4. pl. A study of or a treatise on meteors.
Obs.| 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. ii. 40 Neither out of Aristotles physicks..nor Garsceus meteors, nor out of any of the olde philosophicall Fathers, &c. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xiv. 162 This second opinion is true..not so much for the reasons which the Philosophers give in their Meteors, as [etc.]. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. 257 Apollo some months ago..made Ptolemy, that prince of cosmographers, the chairman..to whom he gave Aristotle for his companion in Meteors, Euclid in the Mathematicks [etc.]. |
5. A name for a confection (see
quot.).
| 1827 G. A. Jarrin Ital. Confectioner (ed. 3) 195 Meteors. Three whites of Eggs, 1lb. Sugar, made into Syrup, and any Essence you please. |
6. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib., as
meteor-field,
meteor-fire,
meteor-light,
meteor-shower;
meteor-like adj. and
adv. b. obj., as
meteor-breathing,
meteor-eclipsing adjs. c. instrumental, as
meteor-blazoned,
meteor-lighted adjs. d. Special combs.:
meteor bumper Astronautics, a structure on the outside of a spacecraft that serves to protect it from the impacts of meteoroids;
meteor-cloud, ‘a cloud-like train left by a meteor in the upper air’ (
Cent. Dict. 1890), also ‘an expanse of space thickly studded with meteors or meteoric particles’ (
Cassell's Encycl. Dict. 1885);
meteor-current, ‘the current or stream of meteors moving together in the same orbit’ (
Ibid.);
meteor-dust, matter in a state of fine division, supposed to be diffused through interstellar space;
meteor-powder, a powdered-up alloy which is mixed with steel to form
meteor-steel;
meteor-spectroscopy, the spectroscopic observation of meteors;
meteor-spectrum, the spectrum produced by the light from a meteor;
meteor-steel, an alloyed steel with a wavy appearance, resembling Damascus steel;
meteor-stone = meteoric stone (see
meteoric 3); also
fig.;
meteor-streak, a streak of light left behind by a meteor after it has disappeared;
meteor-stream = meteor-current;
meteor-swarm,
-system, an aggregation of meteoroids pursuing the same orbit;
meteor trail, a bright streak of ionized gas formed by a meteor passing through the upper atmosphere, which can provide a reflector for radio communication.
| 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. xiv, No misty phantom of the air, No *meteor-blazon'd show was there. |
| 1819 Shelley Prometh. Unb. ii. iii. 3 The mighty portal, Like a volcano's *meteor-breathing chasm. |
| 1951 Jrnl. Brit. Interplanetary Soc. X. 275 For space station lifetimes of more than one year, it is concluded that either a heavily-armoured hull or a ‘*meteor bumper’ will be required. 1960 Aeroplane XCVIII. 680/2 Dorsey described the space-laboratory as a double shell, three compartment, cylinder with convex end domes. The outer shell, made of beryllium, would serve as a ‘meteor bumper’ and thermal shield. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics xi. 450 A double-wall meteor bumper in which the outer wall serves to break up the impacting meteor. |
| 1870 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 76 The *meteor-currents..will shortly be supplemented [etc.]. |
| 1869 Huxley Lay Serm. xi. (1870) 273 Sir W. Thomson..shows that *meteor-dust..would account for the remainder of retardation. |
| 1819 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. 5 For the sun..Hastes, in *meteor-eclipsing array. |
| 1718 Blackmore Alfred x. (1723) 343 Their peaks survey the *Meteor-Fields below. |
| 1753 Mason Elegy to Yng. Noblem. 23 The Muse full oft pursues a *meteor fire. |
| 1804 C. Smith Conversations, etc. I. 178 False *meteor-lights their steps entice. |
| 1795 Southey Joan of Arc ii. 149 Upon the topmost height the Maiden saw A *meteor-lighted dome. |
| a 1631 Donne Calme 22 We can nor lost friends, nor sought foes recover, But *meteorlike, save that wee move not, hover. 1646 Crashaw Musick's Duel 137 The lute..Whose flourish (meteor-like) doth curle the aire With flash of high-borne fancyes. 1813 Byron Giaour vii, As meteor-like thou glidest by. |
| 1827 Repert. Patent Invent. III. 206 The mixture..we call *meteor powder. |
| 1877 G. F. Chambers Astron. ix. iii. (ed. 3) 798 Another *meteor shower of great importance occurs annually on August 10. |
| 1881 Herschel in Nature XXIV. 507 Some *meteor-spectrum observations, which..unfold some of the most important results arrived at in *meteor-spectroscopy since its commencement in the year 1866. |
| 1827 Repert. Patent Invent. III. 205 This said alloyed steel we [the patentees] call *meteor steel. |
| 1822 Moore Mem. (1853) IV. 153 One of those *meteor-stones which generate themselves so unaccountably in the high atmosphere of his fancy. |
| 1869 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 216 Certain persistent *meteor-streaks determined by Professor Newton in the United States, on the 14th of November last. |
| 1877 G. F. Chambers Astron. x. ii. (ed. 3) 835 The incalculable number of *meteor-streams that must exist in the solar system. |
| Ibid., The only *meteor-systems whose orbits have been determined travel on the same orbits with well-known comets. |
| 1930 R. H. Baker Astron. vi. 246 (caption) *Meteor trail. 1935 ― Introd. Astron. ix. 195 It is estimated that a single observer can see an average of ten meteor trails in the course of an hour on clear, moonless nights. 1958 Jrnl. Atmospheric & Terrestrial Physics XII. 329 At an early stage it became apparent that reflections from meteor trails play an important part in v.h.f. ionospheric forward scattering. 1968 Radio Communication Handbk. (ed. 4) xii. 17/2 There are times when the more orthodox modes of propagation fail to provide a satisfactory means of communication and one or other of the various forms of propagation by scatter may then offer a useful alternative: these include tropospheric scatter, ionospheric scatter..and meteor-trail scatter. |
7. Passing into
adj. = a. Blazing or flashing like a meteor.
| a 1711 Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 88 A Crown of meteor-stars adorn'd his Head, All calculated for exciting Dread. 1765 Beattie Judgm. Paris xlix, Fate scatters lightning from thy meteor-shield. 1786 Burns Vision ii. xviii, Misled by Fancy's meteor-ray. 1799 Campbell Pleas. Hope i. 59 With meteor-standard to the winds unfurl'd. 1801 ― Ye Mariners iv, The meteor flag of England Shall yet terrific burn. 1810 Associate Minstrels 88 For thee his glowing torch did Genius fire:— Who now its meteor-brightness shall recal? 1864 Browning Abt Vogler iv, Meteor-moons, balls of blaze. |
b. Of short duration, passing rapidly, transient.
| 1803 Beddoes Hygëia x. 49 With the help of this scaffolding, his castles run up into the air with meteor rapidity. 1811 W. R. Spencer Poems 49 Can bid the meteor-forms of mem'ry last. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab iv. 101 The meteor-happiness, that shuns his grasp. 1902 A. Lang Hist. Scot. II. xiii. 394 Bothwell's meteor course was run. |