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''meteor'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260331180822-00-⌔

meteor - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

meteor (plural meteors)

  • (now meteorology) An atmospheric or meteorological phenomenon. These were sometimes classified as aerial or airy meteors (winds), aqueous or watery meteors (hydrometeors: clouds, rain, snow, hail, dew, frost), luminous meteors (rainbows and aurora), and igneous or fiery meteors (lightning and shooting stars). [from 16th c.]
    • ✤ Europe, where the Sun dares ſcarce appeare,
      For freezing Meteors and congealed cold: […]      1
    • ✤ The twilight, the meteors call’d fire-balls, or flying dragons, and the northern lights, inhabit the higher regions of the atmosphere.2
    • ✤ A meteor in the hazy air/Play’d before his path;/Before him now it roll’d/A globe of livid fire […] Anon to Thalaba it mov’d,/And wrapt him in its pale innocuous fire.3
  • 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. [from 16th c.]
  • (juggling) A prop similar to poi balls, in that it is twirled at the end of a cord or cable.
  • (martial arts) A striking weapon resembling a track and field hammer consisting of a weight swung at the end of a cable or chain.
  • (figurative) Any short-lived source of wonderment.

Verb

meteor (third-person singular simple present meteors, present participle meteoring, simple past and past participle meteored)

  • (intransitive) To move at great speed.

Etymology

From Middle French météore, from Old French, from Latin meteorum, from Ancient Greek μετέωρον (metéōron), from μετέωρος (metéōros, “raised from the ground, hanging, lofty”), from μετά (metá, “in the midst of, among, between”) (English meta) + ἀείρω (aeírō, “to lift, to heave, to raise up”).

The original sense of “atmospheric phenomenon” gave rise to meteorology, but the meaning of “meteor” is now restricted to extraterrestrial objects burning up as they enter the atmosphere.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈmiːtɪ.ə/, /ˈmiːtɪɔː/
  • (US) IPA: /ˈmiːtiɚ/, [ˈmiːɾiɚ],/ˈmiːtioɹ/
    • Audio (US): 🔊
    • Homophone: meatier

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i: ↩

  2. 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 10: ↩

  3. 1801, Robert Southey, “”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volume, London: […] [F] or T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and Cottle, […], →OCLC: ↩

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Secondary

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