English
planet
Pronunciation
  • (RP, GA) IPA: /ˈplænɪt/
  • (Australia) IPA: /ˈplænət/
Noun

planet (plural planets)

  1. (now, historical or astrology) Each of the seven major bodies which move relative to the fixed stars in the night sky—the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. [from 14thc.]
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821 ↗:
      Be they not dreames of humane vanity, […] to make of our knowne earth a bright shining planet {{transterm
  2. (astronomy) A body which orbits the Sun directly and is massive enough to be in hydrostatic equilibrium (effectively meaning a spheroid) and to dominate its orbit; specifically, the eight major bodies of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. (Pluto was considered a planet until 2006 and has now been reclassified as a dwarf planet.) [from 17thc.]
  3. A large body which directly orbits any star (or star cluster) but which has not attained nuclear fusion.
  4. In phrases such as the planet, this planet, sometimes refers to the Earth.
    • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326 ↗:
      "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; […]."
Synonyms

Translations Translations Translations

This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
Offline English dictionary