Falling star

Shooting \Shoot"ing\, a.
   Of or pertaining to shooting; for shooting; darting.
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   {Shooting board} (Joinery), a fixture used in planing or
      shooting the edge of a board, by means of which the plane
      is guided and the board held true.

   {Shooting box}, a small house in the country for use in the
      shooting season. --Prof. Wilson.

   {Shooting gallery}, a range, usually covered, with targets
      for practice with firearms.

   {Shooting iron}, a firearm. [Slang, U.S.]

   {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}.

   {Shooting stick} (Print.), a tapering piece of wood or iron,
      used by printers to drive up the quoins in the chase.
      --Hansard.
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Falling \Fall"ing\, a. & n.
   from {Fall}, v. i.
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   {Falling away}, {Falling off}, etc. See {To fall away}, {To
      fall off}, etc., under {Fall}, v. i.

   {Falling band}, the plain, broad, linen collar turning down
      over the doublet, worn in the early part of the 17th
      century.

   {Falling sickness} (Med.), epilepsy. --Shak.

   {Falling star}. (Astron.) See {Shooting star}.

   {Falling stone}, a stone falling through the atmosphere; a
      meteorite; an a["e]rolite.

   {Falling tide}, the ebb tide.

   {Falling weather}, a rainy season. [Colloq.] --Bartlett.
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