BOLIDE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bolide mean? 

• BOLIDE (noun)
  The noun BOLIDE has 1 sense:

1. an especially luminous meteor (sometimes exploding)

  Familiarity information: BOLIDE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOLIDE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An especially luminous meteor (sometimes exploding)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

bolide; fireball

Hypernyms ("bolide" is a kind of...):

meteor; shooting star (a streak of light in the sky at night that results when a meteoroid hits the earth's atmosphere and air friction causes the meteoroid to melt or vaporize or explode)

 Context examples 

The data indicate that Earth's atmosphere was impacted by small asteroids, resulting in a bolide (or fireball), on 556 separate occasions in a 20-year period.

(New Map Shows Frequency of Small Asteroid Impacts, Provides Clues on Larger Asteroid Population, NASA)