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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

me·te·or·ite

Audio Help [mee-tee-uh-rahyt] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	a mass of stone or metal that has reached the earth from outer space; a fallen meteoroid.

2.	a meteoroid.

[Origin: 1815–25; meteor + -ite¹

]

—Related forms

me·te·or·it·ic

Audio Help [mee-tee-uh-rit-ik] Pronunciation Key, me·te·or·it·i·cal, me·te·or·it·al

Audio Help [mee-tee-uh-rahyt-l] Pronunciation Key, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Meteorite

To learn more about Meteorite visit Britannica.com

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

me·te·or·ite Audio Help (mē'tē-ə-rīt') Pronunciation Key
n. A stony or metallic mass of matter that has fallen to the earth's surface from outer space.

me'te·or·it'ic (-ə-rĭt'ĭk), me'te·or·it'i·cal adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
meteorite

"rock that falls to earth, after streaking across the sky as a meteor," formed in Eng. 1824.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

meteorite
noun
stony or metallic object that is the remains of a meteoroid that has reached the earth's surface

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ˈmeteorite [-rait] noun

a small meteor that has fallen to earth

Arabic:	حَجَر نَيْزَكي
Chinese (Simplified):	陨石
Chinese (Traditional):	隕石
Czech:	meteorit
Danish:	meteorit
Dutch:	meteoriet
Estonian:	meteoriit
Finnish:	meteoriitti
French:	météorite
German:	der Meteorit
Greek:	μετεωρίτης
Hungarian:	meteorkő
Icelandic:	(lítill) loftsteinn
Indonesian:	meteor kecil yang jatuh ke bumi
Italian:	meteorite

Japanese:	隕石
Korean:	운석
Latvian:	meteorīts
Lithuanian:	meteoritas
Norwegian:	meteoritt, meteorstein
Polish:	meteoryt
Portuguese (Brazil):	meteorito
Portuguese (Portugal):	meteorito
Romanian:	meteorit
Russian:	метеорит
Slovak:	meteorit
Slovenian:	meteorit
Spanish:	meteorito
Swedish:	meteorit
Turkish:	yeryüzüne düşmüş küçük göktaşı

See also: meteoric, meteor

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

meteorite Audio Help (mē'tē-ə-rīt') Pronunciation Key
A meteor that reaches the Earth's surface because it has not been burned up by friction with the atmosphere. Meteorites are believed to be fragments of comets and asteroids. ◇ Meteorites that consist mostly of silicates are called stony meteorites and are classified as either chondrites or achondrites. ◇ Meteorites that consist mostly of iron are called iron meteorites. ◇ Meteorites that consist of a mixture of silicates and iron are called stony-iron meteorites.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Meteorite

I"ron\ ([imac]"[u^]rn), n. [OE. iren, AS. [=i]ren, [=i]sen, [=i]sern; akin to D. ijzer, OS. [=i]sarn, OHG. [=i]sarn, [=i]san, G. eisen, Icel. [=i]sarn, j[=a]rn, Sw. & Dan. jern, and perh. to E. ice; cf. Ir. iarann, W. haiarn, Armor. houarn.]

1. (Chem.) The most common and most useful metallic element, being of almost universal occurrence, usually in the form of an oxide (as hematite, magnetite, etc.), or a hydrous oxide (as limonite, turgite, etc.). It is reduced on an enormous scale in three principal forms; viz., cast iron, steel, and wrought iron. Iron usually appears dark brown, from oxidation or impurity, but when pure, or on a fresh surface, is a gray or white metal. It is easily oxidized (rusted) by moisture, and is attacked by many corrosive agents. Symbol Fe (Latin Ferrum). Atomic weight 55.9. Specific gravity, pure iron, 7.86; cast iron, 7.1. In magnetic properties, it is superior to all other substances.

Note: The value of iron is largely due to the facility with which it can be worked. Thus, when heated it is malleable and ductile, and can be easily welded and forged at a high temperature. As cast iron, it is easily fusible; as steel, is very tough, and (when tempered) very hard and elastic. Chemically, iron is grouped with cobalt and nickel. Steel is a variety of iron containing more carbon than wrought iron, but less that cast iron. It is made either from wrought iron, by roasting in a packing of carbon (cementation) or from cast iron, by burning off the impurities in a Bessemer converter (then called Bessemer steel), or directly from the iron ore (as in the Siemens rotatory and generating furnace).

2. An instrument or utensil made of iron; -- chiefly in composition; as, a flatiron, a smoothing iron, etc.

My young soldier, put up your iron. --Shak.

3. pl. Fetters; chains; handcuffs; manacles.

Four of the sufferers were left to rot in irons. --Macaulay.

4. Strength; power; firmness; inflexibility; as, to rule with a rod of iron.

Bar iron. See Wrought iron (below).

Bog iron, bog ore; limonite. See Bog ore, under Bog.

Cast iron (Metal.), an impure variety of iron, containing from three to six percent of carbon, part of which is united with a part of the iron, as a carbide, and the rest is uncombined, as graphite. It there is little free carbon, the product is white iron; if much of the carbon has separated as graphite, it is called gray iron. See also Cast iron, in the Vocabulary.

Fire irons. See under Fire, n.

Gray irons. See under Fire, n.

Gray iron. See Cast iron (above).

It irons (Naut.), said of a sailing vessel, when, in tacking, she comes up head to the wind and will not fill away on either tack.

Magnetic iron. See Magnetite.

Malleable iron (Metal.), iron sufficiently pure or soft to be capable of extension under the hammer; also, specif., a kind of iron produced by removing a portion of the carbon or other impurities from cast iron, rendering it less brittle, and to some extent malleable.

Meteoric iron (Chem.), iron forming a large, and often the chief, ingredient of meteorites. It invariably contains a small amount of nickel and cobalt. Cf. Meteorite.

Pig iron, the form in which cast iron is made at the blast furnace, being run into molds, called pigs.

Reduced iron. See under Reduced.

Specular iron. See Hematite.

Too many irons in the fire, too many objects requiring the attention at once.

White iron. See Cast iron (above).

Wrought iron (Metal.), the purest form of iron commonly known in the arts, containing only about half of one per cent of carbon. It is made either directly from the ore, as in the Catalan forge or bloomery, or by purifying (puddling) cast iron in a reverberatory furnace or refinery. It is tough, malleable, and ductile. When formed into bars, it is called bar iron.

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