meteor (meteor)

[OF. meteore, F. mété ore = Sp. Pg. meteoro = It. meteor a, έώρα, another form of αἰώρα, a being lifted up or suspended on high, hovering, anything suspended).] 1. Any atmospheric phenomenon. Hail, an ordinary meteor ; murrain of cattle an ordinary disease, yet for a plague to obdured Pharaoh miraculously wrought. Bp. Hall, Invisible World, i. § 6. Except they be watered from higher regions, and fructifying meteors of knowledge, these weeds must so lose their alimental appe, and wither of themselves Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., Pref. In starry flake, and pellicle, All day the hoary meteor fell. Whittier , Snow-Bound. Specifically-2. 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. And all their silver crescents then I saw Like falling meteors spent, and set for ever Under the cro of Malta. Beau . and Fl ., Knight of Malta, ii. 1. The imperial ensign; which, full high advanced, Shone like a meteor , streaming to the wind. Milton, P. L., i. 537. 3. 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. meteor. An abbreviation of meteorology, mete orological.