In a message dated 98-03-02 09:19:53 EST, you write:<<
Dear George Zay"Otherwise, the word bolide has no real meaning to
me" was the phrase you used to close your posting.
Maybe you should look at the Webster's New World
Dictionary and its definition of "bolide" (... a brillant
shooting meteor, especial one that explodes). By
association, in many no english speaking countries,
bolides means also something (a car, even a person )
moving very fast. I hope the first part of this posting can
help you out to find a new meaning to the word... :-)
Cordially
JOEL CONRADO
>>
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Thanks Joel...I'm afraid I only speak english (and sometimes have a rough time
at that) and have no idea what bolide would mean in other languages. But I do
find it interesting that it could also mean a car or person etc that is moving
very fast. I did look in my two available dictionaries for the word "bolide"
and it wasn't in either. I have the DoubleDay Dictionary and the "New Concise
Webster's Dictionary"...."Specially designed for Home, School and Office". Not
the fanciest books in the world, but that's what I have to go by in addition
to IMO's handbooks with their Glossaries. In regards to meteors, the word
"bolide" still has no real meaning to me...but in regards to very fast people
and cars I guess I can think of them as being bolides...especially if they
somehow explode at the end.
George Zay
I see that the 'Bolide War' is not winding down and members are still
grinding away at their homework.
The RANDOM HOUSE COMPACT UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY (New York) says:
bolide (Astron.): a large, brilliant meteor, esp. one that explodes;
fireball.
[1850–55; < F < Gk bolid- (s. of bolis) missile].
I have both the book version and the CD ROM version. It is my favorite
CD ROM at the moment, above all, when I'm reading Mailing List contributions
from English-speaking countries. There is hardly any word you do
not find.
So I successfully looked for and found Steven Excell's:
a) it got me to mulling over all of the evidence
-> to think about carefully; consider (often fol. by over): to mull
over an idea.
b) recapping the Chixulub impact crater evidence
-> to recapitulate [1945–50; by shortening]
Words I had never heard of before - Is there anyone out there who is
omniscient?
But now back to the 'Bolide War'! The SHORTER OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY
says:
bolide: [a.F., ad. L., a. Gr. bolis* missile]. A large meteor; usually
one that explodes; a fire-ball (yes, with a hyphen!).
*they use the Greek letters
My Langenscheidt Italian-German dictionary has the following entry:
1. Meteorstein (= meteor stone)
2. Auto in schneller Fahrt (= fast-moving car)
3. Rennwagen (= racing car)
So Joel is right. As his name indicates, he has probably a 'Romanic/Latin' background and for them it can even be very fast people and cars.
Whatever they are, let's hope they drop meteorites right in our front gardens or our backyards!!!
P.S. George, your humor is sarcastic but delicious! --> ...especially
if they
somehow explode at the end.