Definition of "meteor" []

• A bright trail or streak that appears in the sky when a meteoroid is heated to incandescence by friction with the earth's atmosphere. Also called falling star, meteor burst, shooting star. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The term meteor shower is somewhat misleading, because the streaks of light are generally caused by space debris no bigger than grains of sand, which hit and then burn up in the"
• "The term meteor for what is usually called a shooting star bears an unfortunate resemblance to the term meteorology, the science of weather and weather forecasting."
• "In Meteor, a giant meteor is hurtling toward the earth threatening to destroy it (been there, done that)."