[f. FALLING ppl. a. + STAR.] A meteor; a shooting star.
1563. Fulke, Meteors (1640), 8 b. Thus much for the shooting or falling starres.
1690. T. Burnet, The Theory of the Earth, III. 98. The last Sign we shall take notice of is that of Falling Stars.
1759. Miller, in Phil. Trans., LI. 258. This meteor … moved with less rapidity than falling-stars commonly do.
1836. Macgillivray, Humboldt’s Trav., x. 127. He found falling-stars more frequent in the equinoctial regions than in the temperate zone, and also that they occurred oftener over continents and near certain coasts than on the ocean.
