a. [f. Gr. κομήτης, L. comēta comet + -IC, after planetic, L. planēticus, Gr. πλανητικός.] Of or pertaining to a comet or comets; of the nature of or resembling a comet.
1668. Phil. Trans., III. 807. An Inclination of the Cometick Disk to the Sun.
1696. Whiston, Th. Earth, II. (1722), 187. The whole Cometick System.
1803. Edin. Rev., I. 429. The greater eccentricity of the cometic orbits.
1879. Newcomb & Holden, Astron., 391. Such a fountain would throw its water in the form of a sheet, falling on all side of the cometic nucleus, but not touching it.
b. fig. Having some noted attribute of comets: blazing; portentous; erratic.
1661. K. W., Conf. Charac., Meere Polititian (1860), 27. Devising plots against such as have been his coadjutors to this commetique serenity.
1885. Mrs. Lynn Linton, Chr. Kirkland, I. v. 126. His comings and goings were … always cometic.
