comet Hear it!

comet definition

comet (käm′it)

noun

a small, frozen mass of dust and gas revolving around the sun in a parabolic or elliptical orbit: as it nears the sun it vaporizes, forming a coma and, usually, a long tail of ions that points away from the sun

Etymology: ME comete < OE cometa & OFr comete, both < L cometa < Gr komētēs, lit., long-haired (star) < komē, lit., hair of the head

Related Forms:

  • cometary com′·et·ar′y (-ə ter′ē) adjective or cometic co·met′ic (kō met′ik)

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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