shooting star

See synonyms for shooting star on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Also called American cowslip, prairie pointer. any of several North American plants of the genus Dodecatheon, especially D. meadia, having pink or white flowers with reflexed petals and stamens forming a pointed beak.

Origin of shooting star

1
First recorded in 1585–95

Words Nearby shooting star

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

How to use shooting star in a sentence

  • We next proceed to the phenomenon generally called Falling or shooting star.

  • A shooting star falling near a house, foretells an early death in that dwelling.

  • The third brother was Tecumseh, "the wild-cat that leaps upon its prey," or "the shooting star," as the name has been translated.

    The Old Northwest | Frederic Austin Ogg
  • It is this misleading appearance that probably is responsible for the name shooting star.

    A Text-Book of Astronomy | George C. Comstock
  • The shooting-star, a near relative of the cyclamen, is as thick upon the earth as stars up in the sky.

    Your National Parks | Enos A. Mills

British Dictionary definitions for shooting star

shooting star

noun
  1. an informal name for meteor

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

Scientific definitions for shooting star

shooting star

[ shōōtĭng ]


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.