Meteor vs. Bolide — What's the Difference?

A bright streak of light that appears in the sky when a meteoroid is heated to incandescence by friction with the earth's atmosphere. Also called falling star, meteor burst, shooting star.

A bolide is normally taken to mean an exceptionally bright meteor, but the term is subject to more than one definition, according to context. It may refer to any large crater-forming body, or to one that explodes in the atmosphere.

A meteoroid or meteorite.

A meteoric flash or flare created when a meteoroid explodes or vaporizes as it passes through Earth's atmosphere. Also called fireball.

(Archaic) Any atmospheric phenomenon, such as a rainbow, lightning, or snow.

An extremely bright meteor.

An atmospheric or meteorological phenomenon. These were sometimes classified as aerial or airy meteors (winds), aqueous or watery meteors (hydrometeors: clouds, rain, snow, hail, dew, frost), luminous meteors (rainbows and aurora), and igneous or fiery meteors (lightning and shooting stars).

Any extraterrestrial body that collides with Earth.

A fast-moving streak of light in the night sky caused by the entry of extraterrestrial matter into the earth's atmosphere; a shooting star or falling star.

A fireball.

(juggling) A prop similar to poi balls, in that it is twirled at the end of a cord or cable.

A kind of meteor; a bolis.

(martial arts) A striking weapon resembling a track and field hammer consisting of a weight swung at the end of a cable or chain.

An especially luminous meteor (sometimes exploding)

(figurative) Any short-lived source of wonderment.

(intransitive) To move at great speed.

Any phenomenon or appearance in the atmosphere, as clouds, rain, hail, snow, etc.

Specif.: A transient luminous body or appearance seen in the atmosphere, or in a more elevated region.

A mass of stone or other substance which sometimes falls to the earth from space beyond the moon, burning up from atomospheric friction and creating a brilliant but usually very brief trail of light in the atmosphere; also called a 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

(astronomy) any of the small solid extraterrestrial bodies that hits the earth's atmosphere