ASTEROID • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Asteroid

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/ˈæstərˌɔɪd/ Listen

Asteroid

noun

Any of numerous small celestial bodies composed of rock and metal that move around the sun (mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter).

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Etymology of 'Asteroid'

Related searches:

asteroid belt

Apollo asteroid

asteroidal

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"Asteroid" Quotes from Famous Books

... to indicate the departure of a new expedition from Mars had been noticed by them? We have heard nothing of that expedition since. We know that it did not reach the earth. It must have fallen foul of this asteroid, run upon this rock in the ocean of space and been ...

— Edison's Conquest of Mars • Garrett Putnam Serviss

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... "Anything that can go wrong, will". One variant favored among hackers is "The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum" (but see also {Hanlon's Razor}). The label 'Finagle's Law' was popularized by SF author Larry Niven in several stories depicting a frontier culture of asteroid miners; this 'Belter' culture professed a religion and/or running joke involving the worship of the dread god Finagle and his mad prophet Murphy. Some technical and scientific cultures (e.g., paleontologists) know it under the name 'Sod's Law'; this usage ...

— The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0

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... sorrel, ridden by the fellow in a yellow jacket, begins to make play fast; is getting to be the favourite with many. But who is that other one that has been lengthening his stride from the first, and now shows close up to the front? Don't you remember the quiet brown colt ASTEROID, with the star in his forehead? That is he; he is one of the sort that lasts; look out for him! The black "colt," as we used to call him, is in the background, taking it easily in a gentle trot. There is one they used to call THE ...

— The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes

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... fragments, he ventured to predict, would be found when searched for. William Herschel sanctioned this theory, and suggested the name asteroids for the tiny planets. The explosion theory was supported by the discovery of another asteroid, by Harding, of Lilienthal, in 1804, and it seemed clinched when Olbers himself found a fourth in 1807. The new-comers were named Juno and ...

— A History of Science, Volume 3(of 5) • Henry Smith Williams

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Words linked to "Asteroid" : minor planet, Pallas, Vesta, Chiron, Apollo asteroid, planetoid, star-shaped, Ceres, angular, angulate