Library / English Dictionary |
OORT CLOUD
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(astronomy) a hypothetical huge collection of comets orbiting the sun far beyond the orbit of Pluto; perturbations (as by other stars) can upset a comet's orbit and may send it tumbling toward the sun
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("Oort cloud" is a kind of...):
accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)
Domain category:
astronomy; uranology (the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole)