bolide

[ boh-lahyd, -lid ]
See synonyms for bolide on Thesaurus.com
nounAstronomy.
  1. a large, brilliant meteor, especially one that explodes; fireball.

Origin of bolide

1
First recorded in 1850–55; from French, from Greek bolid- (stem of bolís ) “missile”

Words Nearby bolide

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bolide in a sentence

  • Astrophysicists say it was a bolide, or a meteor that explodes in the air.

  • It said blandly that a bolide—a slow-moving, large meteoric object—had been observed by radar to be descending to earth.

    Operation Terror | William Fitzgerald Jenkins
  • A bolide had fallen into the Catanian sea—he took me to the port and showed me precisely where.

    Castellinaria | Henry Festing Jones
  • They stopped arguing about last night's bolide to take ringside seats.

    Creatures of the Abyss | Murray Leinster
  • The argument on the path of last night's bolide and why it fell where it did is again in order.

    Creatures of the Abyss | Murray Leinster
  • It was the sound of the bolide's passage, arriving after the object itself had dived into the sea.

    Creatures of the Abyss | Murray Leinster

British Dictionary definitions for bolide

bolide

/ (ˈbəʊlaɪd, -lɪd) /


noun
  1. a large exceptionally bright meteor that often explodes: Also called: fireball

Origin of bolide

1
C19: from French, from bolis missile; see ballista

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012