asteroid

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a natural rocky or metallic body smaller than a planet that orbits a star, especially one orbiting the Sun

   The probe collected images as it passed close to the asteroid.

2. 2
   adj

   shaped like or resembling a star

   The biologist described the organism's five-pointed outline as asteroid.

From Greek asteroeides, 'star-like,' formed from aster, 'star,' + eidos, 'form or appearance.' The astronomical name was introduced in the early nineteenth century because these small bodies appeared as star-like points through contemporary telescopes.

Topics