meteor •astrantia • Bastia •Dei gratia, hamartia •poinsettia •in absentia, Parmentier •Izvestia •meteor, wheatear •Whittier • cottier • Ostia •consortia, courtier •protea • Yakutia • frontier • Althea •Anthea • Parthia •Pythia, stichomythia •Carinthia, Cynthia •forsythia • Scythia • clothier • salvia •Latvia • Yugoslavia • envier •Flavia, Moldavia, Moravia, Octavia, paviour (US pavior), Scandinavia, Xavier •Bolivia, Livia, Olivia, trivia •Sylvia • Guinevere • Elzevir •Monrovia, Segovia •Retrovir • effluvia • colloquia •Goodyear • yesteryear • brassiere •Abkhazia •Anastasia, aphasia, brazier, dysphasia, dysplasia, euthanasia, fantasia, Frazier, glazier, grazier, gymnasia, Malaysia •amnesia, anaesthesia (US anesthesia), analgesia, freesia, Indonesia, Silesia, synaesthesia •artemisia, Kirghizia, Tunisia •ambrosia, crozier, hosier, osier, symposia

Meteor WOOf! 1979 (PG)

American and Soviet scientists attempt to save the Earth from a fast-approaching barrage of meteors from space in this disaster dud. Destruction ravages parts of Hong Kong and the Big Apple. 107m/C VHS, DVD . Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, Trevor Howard, Henry Fonda, Joseph Campanella, Richard Dysart; D: Ronald Neame; W: Stanley Mann; C: Paul Lohmann; M: Laurence Rosenthal.

meteor Transient, incandescent trail of a meteoroid entering the Earth's atmosphere. All the material burns up before reaching the ground. It is popularly referred to as a ‘shooting star’. A very bright meteor is called a fireball. Compare METEORITES.

meteor † atmospheric phenomenon XV; fireball, shooting star XVI. — modL. meteōrum or Gr. metėōron, sb. use of n. of metéōros raised up, lofty, f. metā META- + *eōr-, var. of base of aeírein raise.
Hence, or partly — medL. meteōricus, meteoric † elevated, lofty XVII; † pert. to the atmosphere XVIII; pert. to meteors XIX. meteorite XIX. meteorology XVII. — F. or modL. — Gr. meteōrologíā. meteorological XVI.

meteor (shooting star) Brief streak of light in the night sky caused by a meteoroid entering the Earth's upper atmosphere at high speed from space. A typical meteor lasts from a few tenths of a second to a few seconds, depending on the meteoroid's impact speed, which can vary from c.11–70km/s (7–45mi/s). At certain times of the year there are meteor showers, when meteors are more numerous than usual.