Meteors

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Luminous trails that result from meteoroids as they burn upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere create a visual spectacle in the night sky
2. Bright lines of light appearing in the night sky when small rocks from space ignite on entering Earth's atmosphere
3. Streaks visible in the dark sky caused by fragments from outer space heating up as they fall through the air

Etymology: Plural nouns get one or two sentences: "meteors" is the plural of "meteor", so the etymology is the same as the singular. The root is Greek "metéōron", from "metéōros", meaning "raised from the ground, hanging, lofty". It combines "metá", "in the midst of", with "aeírō", "to lift or raise up". The original sense was broad: anything lofty or suspended in the air, including weather phenomena such as rain, snow and wind. That older meaning survives in "meteorology", the study of the atmosphere, which descends from the same Greek stem. Over time the word narrowed. The modern sense refers only to objects from space that burn up as they enter Earth's atmosphere, producing the streaks of light people see in the night sky. The atmospheric sense of the word moved away from the English term, while the sky-streak sense took over the everyday use.

Synonyms: shooting stars, falling stars