comet

From Middle English comete, partly from Old English comēta and partly from Old French comete, both from Latin comētēs, from Ancient Greek κομήτης (komḗtēs, “longhaired”), short for ἀστὴρ κομήτης ([astēr] komētēs, "longhaired [star])" and referring to the tail of a comet, from κόμη (kómē, “hair”). Compare English faxed star.

• enPR: kŏm'ət, IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmət/

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• Rhymes: -ɒmɪt

comet (plural comets)

1. (astronomy) A small Solar System body consisting mainly of volatile ice, dust and particles of rock whose very eccentric solar orbit periodically brings it close enough to the Sun that the ice vaporises to form an atmosphere, or coma, which may be blown by the solar wind to produce a visible tail.
2. A celestial phenomenon with the appearance of such a body.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:

     Upon his browes was pourtraid vgly death,
     And in his eies the furies of his heart,
     That ſhine as Comets, menacing reueng,
     And caſts a pale complexion on his cheeks.

3. Any of several species of hummingbird found in the Andes.

A comet whose volatile ices have completely evaporated is said to be dead or extinct.

• ☄
• faxed star (rare, dialectal)

• comet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Comte, comte

comet

1. third-person singular present indicative form of cometre
2. second-person singular imperative form of cometre

cōmet

1. third-person singular future active indicative of cōmō

comet n (plural comete)

1. Alternative form of cometă