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A meteor or exhalation formerly supposed to be thrown from the clouds with such violence that by collision it is set on fire. [Obs.]

ut of the usual course of nature, from which omens are drawn; a portent; as, eclipses and meteors were anciently deemed prodigies. So many terrors, voices, prodigies, May warn thee, as a sure foregoing sign. Milton.

Any starlike meteor or phenomenon. [R.]

steel-gray flexible folia. It contains iron, nickel, and phosphorus, and is found only in meteoric iron.

(Meteor.) A dust storm. [India]

oting iron, a firearm. [Slang, U.S.] -- Shooting star. (a) (Astron.) A starlike, luminous meteor, that, appearing suddenly, darts quickly across some portion of the sky, and then as suddenly disappears, leaving sometimes, for a few seconds, a luminous train, - - called also falling star. Shooting stars are small cosmic…

A meteorite consisting solely of metallic iron.

A kind of meteorite. See under Meteorite.

War Department) organized to collect from the whole country simultaneous raports of local meteorological conditions, upon comparison of which at the central office, predictions concerning the weather are telegraphed to various sections, where they are made known by signals publicly displayed. -- Signal station, the pl…

lanets, with their satellites; the minor planets, or asteroids, and the comets; also, the meteorids, the matter that furnishes the zodiacal light, and the rings of Saturn. The satellites that revolve about the major planets are twenty-two in number, of which the Earth has one (see Moon.), Mars two, Jupiter five, Saturn…

An unmanned balloon sent aloft for meteorological or aëronautic purposes.

r or multitude, as of people in motion, or sometimes of inanimate objects; as, a swarm of meteorites. Those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it [Italy]. Addison.

Any of a group of meteors appearing November 20-23; -- so called because they appear to radiate from a point in Taurus.

designated by scientists of different nations or stations, for making synoptic magnetic, meteorological, or other physical observations.

A violent whirling wind; specifically (Meteorol.), a tempest distinguished by a rapid whirling and slow progressive motion, usually accompaned with severe thunder, lightning, and torrents of rain, and commonly of short duration and small breadth; a small cyclone.

eft by something that has passed along; as, the track, or wake, of a ship; the track of a meteor; the track of a sled or a wheel. The bright track of his fiery car. Shak.

Anything drawn out to a length; as, the trail of a meteor; a trail of smoke. When lightning shoots in glittering trails along. Rowe.

Native iron protosulphide, FeS. It is known only in meteoric irons, and is usually in imbedded nodular masses of a bronze color.

to two parts; asunder. When old winder split the rocks in twain. Dryden. -- Twain cloud. (Meteor.) Same as Cumulo-stratus.

A meteorite or aërolite. [Obs.] Hutton.