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English Dictionary: Shooting Star by the DICT Development Group
3 results for Shooting Star
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
shooting star
n
  1. a streak of light in the sky at night that results when a meteoroid hits the earth's atmosphere and air friction causes the meteoroid to melt or vaporize or explode
    Synonym(s): meteor, shooting star
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
  
  
      {Shooting 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}.
  
      Note: Shooting stars are small cosmical bodies which
               encounter the earth in its annual revolution, and which
               become visible by coming with planetary velocity into
               the upper regions of the atmosphere. At certain
               periods, as on the 13th of November and 10th of August,
               they appear for a few hours in great numbers,
               apparently diverging from some point in the heavens,
               such displays being known as meteoric showers, or star
               showers. These bodies, before encountering the earth,
               were moving in orbits closely allied to the orbits of
               comets. See {Leonids}, {Perseids}.
      (b) (Bot.) The American cowslip ({Dodecatheon Meadia}). See
            under {Cowslip}.
  
      {Shooting stick} (Print.), a tapering piece of wood or iron,
            used by printers to drive up the quoins in the chase.
            --Hansard.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
  
  
      {Blazing star}, {Double star}, {Multiple star}, {Shooting
      star}, etc. See under {Blazing}, {Double}, etc.
  
      {Nebulous star} (Astron.), a small well-defined circular
            nebula, having a bright nucleus at its center like a star.
           
  
      {Star anise} (Bot.), any plant of the genus Illicium; -- so
            called from its star-shaped capsules.
  
      {Star apple} (Bot.), a tropical American tree ({Chrysophyllum
            Cainito}), having a milky juice and oblong leaves with a
            silky-golden pubescence beneath. It bears an applelike
            fruit, the carpels of which present a starlike figure when
            cut across. The name is extended to the whole genus of
            about sixty species, and the natural order
            ({Sapotace[91]}) to which it belongs is called the
            Star-apple family.
  
      {Star conner}, one who cons, or studies, the stars; an
            astronomer or an astrologer. --Gascoigne.
  
      {Star coral} (Zo[94]l.), any one of numerous species of stony
            corals belonging to {Astr[91]a}, {Orbicella}, and allied
            genera, in which the calicles are round or polygonal and
            contain conspicuous radiating septa.
  
      {Star cucumber}. (Bot.) See under {Cucumber}.
  
      {Star flower}. (Bot.)
            (a) A plant of the genus {Ornithogalum};
                  star-of-Bethlehem.
            (b) See {Starwort}
            (b) .
            (c) An American plant of the genus {Trientalis}
                  ({Trientalis Americana}). --Gray.
  
      {Star fort} (Fort.), a fort surrounded on the exterior with
            projecting angles; -- whence the name.
  
      {Star gauge} (Ordnance), a long rod, with adjustable points
            projecting radially at its end, for measuring the size of
            different parts of the bore of a gun.
  
      {Star grass}. (Bot.)
            (a) A small grasslike plant ({Hypoxis erecta}) having
                  star-shaped yellow flowers.
            (b) The colicroot. See {Colicroot}.
  
      {Star hyacinth} (Bot.), a bulbous plant of the genus {Scilla}
            ({S. autumnalis}); -- called also {star-headed hyacinth}.
           
  
      {Star jelly} (Bot.), any one of several gelatinous plants
            ({Nostoc commune}, {N. edule}, etc.). See {Nostoc}.
  
      {Star lizard}. (Zo[94]l.) Same as {Stellion}.
  
      {Star-of-Bethlehem} (Bot.), a bulbous liliaceous plant
            ({Ornithogalum umbellatum}) having a small white starlike
            flower.
  
      {Star-of-the-earth} (Bot.), a plant of the genus {Plantago}
            ({P. coronopus}), growing upon the seashore.
  
      {Star polygon} (Geom.), a polygon whose sides cut each other
            so as to form a star-shaped figure.
  
      {Stars and Stripes}, a popular name for the flag of the
            United States, which consists of thirteen horizontal
            stripes, alternately red and white, and a union having, in
            a blue field, white stars to represent the several States,
            one for each.
  
                     With the old flag, the true American flag, the
                     Eagle, and the Stars and Stripes, waving over the
                     chamber in which we sit.                     --D. Webster.
  
      {Star showers}. See {Shooting star}, under {Shooting}.
  
      {Star thistle} (Bot.), an annual composite plant ({Centaurea
            solstitialis}) having the involucre armed with radiating
            spines.
  
      {Star wheel} (Mach.), a star-shaped disk, used as a kind of
            ratchet wheel, in repeating watches and the feed motions
            of some machines.
  
      {Star worm} (Zo[94]l.), a gephyrean.
  
      {Temporary star} (Astron.), a star which appears suddenly,
            shines for a period, and then nearly or quite disappears.
            These stars are supposed by some astronometers to be
            variable stars of long and undetermined periods.
  
      {Variable star} (Astron.), a star whose brilliancy varies
            periodically, generally with regularity, but sometimes
            irregularly; -- called {periodical star} when its changes
            occur at fixed periods.
  
      {Water star grass} (Bot.), an aquatic plant ({Schollera
            graminea}) with small yellow starlike blossoms.
No guarantee of accuracy or completeness!
©TU Chemnitz, 2006-2024
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