3. Flashing; brilliant; transient; like a meteor; as, meteoric fame.
"Meteoric politician." Craik.
Meteoric iron, Meteoric stone. (Min.) See Meteorite. -- Meteoric paper,
a substance of confervoid origin found floating in the air, and
resembling bits of coarse paper; -- so called because formerly supposed
to fall from meteors. -- Meteoric showers, periodical exhibitions of
shooting stars, occuring about the 9th or 10th of August and 13th of
November, more rarely in April and December, and also at some other
periods.
Me`te*or"ic*al (?), a. Meteoric.
Me"te*or*ism (?), n. (Med.) Flatulent distention of the abdomen;
tympanites.
Me"te*or*ite (?), n. [Cf. F. météorite.] (Min.) A mass of stone or iron
which has fallen to the earth from space; an aërolite.
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).
Me"te*or*ize (?), v. i. [Gr. &?; to raise to a height.] To ascend in
vapors; to take the form of a meteor. Evelyn.
Me`te*or"o*graph (?), n. [Meteor + -graph.] An instrument which
registers meteorologic phases or conditions.
Me`te*or`o*graph"ic (?), a. Of or pertaining to meteorography.
Me`te*or*og"ra*phy (?), n. [Meteor + -graphy.] The registration of
meteorological phenomena.
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Me"te*or*oid (m"t*r*oid), n. [Meteor + -oid.] (Astron.) A small body
moving through space, or revolving about the sun, which on entering the
earth's atmosphere would be deflagrated and appear as a meteor.
These bodies [small, solid bodies] before they come into the air, I
call meteoroids.
H. A. Newton.
Me`te*or*oid"al (?), a. Of or pertaining to a meteoroid or to
meteoroids.
Me`te*or"o*lite (?; 277), n. [Meteor + -lite : cf. F. météorolithe.] A
meteoric stone; an aërolite; a meteorite.
{ Me`te*or`o*log"ic (?), Me`te*or`o*log"ic*al (?), } a. [Gr. &?;: cf.
F. météorologique.] Of or pertaining to the atmosphere and its
phenomena, or to meteorology.
Meteorological table, Meteorological register, a table or register
exhibiting the state of the air and its temperature, weight, dryness,
moisture, motion, etc.
Me`te*or*ol"o*gist (?), n. [Cf. F. météorologiste.] A person skilled in
meteorology.
Me`te*or*ol"o*gy (?), n. [Gr. &?;; &?; + lo`gos discourse: cf. F.
météorologie. See Meteor.] The science which treats of the atmosphere
and its phenomena, particularly of its variations of heat and moisture,
of its winds, storms, etc.
Me`te*or"o*man`cy (?), n. [Meteor + -mancy : cf. F. météoromancie.] A
species of divination by meteors, chiefly by thunder and lightning,
which was held in high estimation by the Romans.
Me`te*or*om"e*ter (?), n. [Meteor + -meter.] An apparatus which
transmits automatically to a central station atmospheric changes as
marked by the anemometer, barometer, thermometer, etc.
Me`te*or"o*scope (?; 277), n. [Gr. &?;, fr. &?; observing the heavenly
bodies; &?; + &?; to view: cf. F. météoroscope. See Meteor.] (Astron.)
(a) An astrolabe; a planisphere. [Obs.] (b) An instrument for measuring
the position, length, and direction, of the apparent path of a shooting
star.
Me*te"o*rous (? or ?), a. [See Meteor.] Of the nature or appearance of
a meteor.
-me"ter (?). [L. metrum measure, or the allied Gr. &?;. See Meter
rhythm.] A suffix denoting that by which anything is measured; as,
barometer, chronometer, dynamometer.
Me"ter (?), n. [From Mete to measure.] 1. One who, or that which, metes
or measures. See Coal-meter.
2. An instrument for measuring, and usually for recording
automatically, the quantity measured.
Dry meter, a gas meter having measuring chambers, with flexible walls,
which expand and contract like bellows and measure the gas by filling
and emptying. -- Wet meter, a gas meter in which the revolution of a
chambered drum in water measures the gas passing through it.
Me"ter, n. A line above or below a hanging net, to which the net is
attached in order to strengthen it.
{ Me"ter, Me"tre } (?), n. [OE. metre, F. mètre, L. metrum, fr. Gr.
&?;; akin to Skr. m to measure. See Mete to measure.] 1. Rhythmical
arrangement of syllables or words into verses, stanzas, strophes, etc.;
poetical measure, depending on number, quantity, and accent of
syllables; rhythm; measure; verse; also, any specific rhythmical
arrangements; as, the Horatian meters; a dactylic meter.
The only strict antithesis to prose is meter.
Wordsworth.