See Also: Air Plus Comet(tourism)
comet(dictionary)
comet(dictionary)
comet(encyclopedia)
Air Plus Comet flights(tourism)
Air Plus Comet code(tourism)
Halley's comet(dictionary)
comet (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Halley's Comet(encyclopedia)
Encke's Comet(encyclopedia)

comet (iou)



comet noun & adjective. Also cometa. LOE.
[(Old & mod. French comete from) Latin cometa from Greek kometes long-haired (star), from komaein wear the hair long, from kome hair.]
A. noun.
Astronomy. A celestial object that orbits the sun in a highly elliptical path and, when in the vicinity of the sun, usu. has a bright hazy head and a long more diffuse tail. LOE.
Oort comet cloud, Oort's comet cloud: see OORT 2.
b. fig. A portent; a herald. L16.
A card-game ancestral to Newmarket. L17.
Comb.: comet-finder, comet-seeker a telescope of low power and large field of view, used in searching for comets; comet-year: in which a notable comet has appeared.
b. adjective. Designating wine made in a comet-year, supposed to have superior qualities. M19.
cometary adjective of or pertaining to a comet or comets; like a comet: M17.
co'metic,
co'metical adjectives cometary; fig. blazing; portentous; erratic: M17.