Shooting star. (a)(Astron.) A starlike, luminous meteor, that, appearing suddenly, darts quickly across some portion of the sky, and then as suddenly disappears, leaving sometimes, for a few seconds, a luminous train, called also falling star. Note: Shooting stars are small cosmical bodies which encounter the earth in its annual revolution, and which become visible by coming with planetary velocity into the upper regions of the atmosphere. At certain periods, as on the 13th of November and 10th of August, they appear for a few hours in great numbers, apparently diverging from some point in the heavens, such displays being known as meteoric showers, or star showers. These bodies, before encountering the earth, were moving in orbits closely allied to the orbits of comets. See Leonids, Perseids.
(b)(Bot.) The American cowslip (Dodecatheon Meadia). See under Cowslip. 
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