Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One of a shower of meteors that appears to originate in the vicinity of the constellation Perseus during the second week of August.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The flock of Perseids is of great extent and moves in a path apparently coincident with that of Tuttle's comet of 1862, and now forms almost a complete oval ring around the sun. It gives us, therefore, more or less of a shower each year, beginning in the latter part of July and lasting till late in August, but most abundant about August 12. The Perseids are for the most part yellowish, and move with medium velocity, not as swiftly as the bluish Leonids, but more swiftly than the Bielids.
- noun One of the August meteors: so named because they seem to radiate from the constellation Perseus.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Astron.) One of a group of shooting stars which appear yearly about the 10th of August, and cross the heavens in paths apparently radiating from the constellation Perseus. They are probably fragments of Swift's comet 1862 (III).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun astronomy Any of the
meteors in ameteor shower that appears to come from theconstellation Perseus .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Perseid.
Examples
-
It is also the month of “The Tears of St. Lawrence,” more commonly known as the Perseid Meteor Shower.
-
Each year, as Earth moves through a trail of dust from the comet Swift-Tuttle's 133-year orbit, the night sky lights up in a hail of celestial fire known as the Perseid meteor shower
-
Perseid devleops drugs to treat autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and transplant rejections.
-
The Perseid meteor showers in August were the most stunning I ever saw, bushels of shooting stars, more than I could count.
Bird Cloud Annie Proulx 2011
-
Maxygen announced on Thursday that Astellas Pharma will purchase the company's stake in their joint venture, Perseid Therapeutics, for $76 million.
-
The Perseid meteor shower peaks on the night of August 12/13.
Zoe P. Strassfield: Plans and Precommitment: 2012 in Space! Zoe P. Strassfield 2012
-
Last night, the rains came, blocking our view of the Perseid meteor shower, but driving away the heat and rendering the House livable again.
"Into fire you can send us. From the fire we return." txtriffidranch 2009
-
The Perseid meteor shower peaks on the night of August 12/13.
Zoe P. Strassfield: Plans and Precommitment: 2012 in Space! Zoe P. Strassfield 2012
-
The Perseid meteor showers in August were the most stunning I ever saw, bushels of shooting stars, more than I could count.
Bird Cloud Annie Proulx 2011
-
The Perseid meteor shower peaks on the night of August 12/13.
Zoe P. Strassfield: Plans and Precommitment: 2012 in Space! Zoe P. Strassfield 2012
bilby commented on the word Perseid
Sounds like Perseid-Leonid-Bielid is the meteor version of rock-paper-scissors.
July 29, 2021