METEORITE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Meteorite

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noun

Meteorite n. (Min.) A mass of stone or iron which has fallen to the earth from space; an aerolite. Note: Meteorites usually show a pitted surface with a fused crust, caused by the heat developed in their rapid passage through the earth's atmosphere. A meteorite may consist: 1. Of metallic iron, alloyed with a small percentage of nickel (meteoric iron, holosiderite). When etched this usually exhibits peculiar crystalline figures, called Widmanstätten figures. 2. Of a cellular mass of iron with imbedded silicates (mesosiderite or siderolite). 3. Of a stony mass of silicates with little iron (meteoric stone, sporadosiderite). 4. Of a mass without iron (asiderite).

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Etymology of 'Meteorite'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Meteorite" Quotes from Famous Books

... "A meteorite," the driver explained. "They're thick tonight. Don't worry. There's a screen upon the roof that slows them down and melts 'em. The larger ones never reach us. Some of the tiny ...

— Hunters Out of Space • Joseph Everidge Kelleam

... presented to the Franciscans by Count Philippe d'Ormay, when Father Antoine called my attention to a comet that was apparently coming straight toward us. Instead, however, of leaving a horizontal trail of fire behind it, this comet or meteorite seemed to shoot an almost vertical beam of orange light toward the earth. It produced a very strange effect on all of us, since a normal comet or other celestial body that left a wake of light of that sort behind it would naturally be expected to be moving upward toward the zenith, instead of ...

— The Man Who Rocked the Earth • Arthur Train

... looked upon as a meteoric stone that fell from the moon. In the "Iliad," Zeus is said to have sent Athena as a meteorite ...

— The Evolution of the Dragon • G. Elliot Smith

Words linked to "Meteorite" : meteoroid, aerolite, siderite, micrometeor, pallasite, meteoritic, micrometeoroid, meteor, meteoritical, micrometeorite