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Webster 1913 Edition

Planet

Plan′et

,
Noun.
[OE.
planete
, F.
planète
, L.
planeta
, fr. Gr. [GREEK], and [GREEK] a planet; prop. wandering, fr. [GREEK] to wander, fr. [GREEK] a wandering.]
1.
(Astron.)
A celestial body which revolves about the sun in an orbit of a moderate degree of eccentricity. It is distinguished from a comet by the absence of a coma, and by having a less eccentric orbit. See
Solar system
.
☞ The term planet was first used to distinguish those stars which have an apparent motion through the constellations from the fixed stars, which retain their relative places unchanged. The inferior planets are Mercury and Venus, which are nearer to the sun than is the earth; the superior planets are Mars, the asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, which are farther from the sun than is the earth. Primary planets are those which revolve about the sun; secondary planets, or moons, are those which revolve around the primary planets as satellites, and at the same time revolve with them about the sun.
2.
A star, as influencing the fate of a men.
There’s some ill
planet
reigns.
Shakespeare
Planet gear
.
(Mach.)
See
Epicyclic train
, under
Epicyclic
.
–
Planet wheel
,
a gear wheel which revolves around the wheel with which it meshes, in an epicyclic train.

Webster 1828 Edition

Planet

PLAN'ET

,
Noun.
[L. planeta; Gr. wandering, to wander, allied to L. planus. See Plant.] A celestial body which revolves about the sun or other center, or a body revolving about another planet as its center. The planets which revolve about the sun as their center, are called primary planets; those which revolve about other planets as their center, and with them revolve about the sun, are called secondary planets, satellites or moons. The primary planets are named Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Herschell. Four smaller planets, denominated by some, asteroids, namely, Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta, have recently been discovered between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Herschell, being without the earth's orbit, are sometimes called the superior planets; Venus and Mercury, being within the earth's orbit, are called inferior planets. The planets are opake bodies which receive their light from the sun. They are so named from their motion or revolution, in distinction from the fixed stars,and are distinguished from the latter by their not twinkling.

Definition 2024

Planet

Planet

See also: planet, planèt, and plånet

German

Die Erde ist einer von acht Planeten welche die Sonne umkreisen

Noun

Planet m ‎(genitive Planeten, plural Planeten)

  1. (astronomy) A planet (each of the seven major bodies which move relative to the fixed stars in the night sky)

Declension

Hypernyms

Hyponyms

Synonyms

Derived terms

See also

planet

planet

See also: Planet, planèt, and plånet

English

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, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.12:
      Be they not dreames of humane vanity, […] to make of our knowne earth a bright shining planet [transl. astre]?
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 288:
      The moon […] began to rise from her bed, where she had slumbered away the day, in order to sit up all night. Jones had not travelled far before he paid his compliments to that beautiful planet, and, turning to his companion, asked him if he had ever beheld so delicious an evening?
    • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 361:
      Another of Boehme's followers, the Welshman Morgan Llwyd, also believed that the seven planets could be found within man.
  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.]
    • 1640, John Wilkins, A Discovrse concerning a New Planet. Tending to prove, That 'tis probable our Earth is one of the Planets, title:
      A Discovrse concerning a New Planet. Tending to prove, That 'tis probable our Earth is one of the Planets
    • 2006 December 22, Alok Jha, The Guardian:
      Their decision will force a rewrite of science textbooks because the solar system is now a place with eight planets and three newly defined "dwarf planets"—a new category of object that includes Pluto.
  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 W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter VIII”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      "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; […]."
    • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:
      It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: […]; perhaps to moralise on the oneness or fragility of the planet, or to see humanity for the small and circumscribed thing that it is; […].

Usage notes

The term planet originally meant any star which wandered across the sky, and generally included comets and the Sun and Moon. With the Copernican revolution, the Earth was recognized as a planet, and the Sun was seen to be fundamentally different. The Galileian satellites of Jupiter were at first called planets (satellite planets), but later reclassified along with the Moon. The first asteroids were also thought to be planets, but were reclassified when it was realized that there were a great many of them, crossing each other's orbits, in a zone where only a single planet had been expected. Likewise, Pluto was found where an outer planet had been expected, but doubts were raised when it turned out to cross Neptune's orbit and to be much smaller than the expectation required. When Eris, an outer body more massive than Pluto, was discovered, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially defined the word planet as above. However, a significant minority have refused to accept the IAU definition. Many simply continue with the nine planets that had been recognized prior to the discovery of Eris. Others are of the opinion that orbital parameters should be irrelevant, and that any equilibrium (≈spherical) body in orbit around a star is a planet; there are likely several hundred such bodies in the Solar system. Still others argue that orbiting a star should also be irrelevant, thus re-accepting the Galileian satellites (as well as a dozen other moons) as planets.

Note that the 2006 IAU definition defines a planet in respect to the Sun, and is thus technically inapplicable to exoplanets.

Synonyms

Hypernyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

similar body in orbit around a star

See also

References

  • First Steps to Astronomy and Geography, 1828, (Hatchard & Son: Piccadilly, London).

Anagrams

Albanian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [planɛt]

Noun

planet m (indefinite plural planete, definite singular planeti, definite plural planetet)

  1. planet

Declension

Danish

Noun

planet c (singular definite planeten, plural indefinite planeter)

  1. (astronomy) A planet.

Inflection

Derived terms

German

Verb

planet

  1. Second-person plural subjunctive I of planen.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse planéta.

Noun

planet m ‎(definite singular planeten, indefinite plural planeter, definite plural planetene)

  1. a planet

Related terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse planéta.

Noun

planet m ‎(definite singular planeten, indefinite plural planetar, definite plural planetane)

  1. a planet
Related terms

Etymology 2

Noun

planet n

  1. singular definite of plan

References

Polish

Noun

planet f

  1. genitive plural of planeta

Romansch

Noun

planet m (plural planets)

  1. (astronomy, astrology) planet

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /plǎneːt/
  • Hyphenation: pla‧net

Noun

plànēt m ‎(Cyrillic spelling пла̀не̄т)

  1. planet

Declension

Slovene

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /plaˈnéːt/
  • Tonal orthography: planẹ̑t

Noun

planét m inan ‎(genitive planéta, nominative plural planéti)

  1. (astronomy) planet

Declension

Derived terms

See also

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

planet c

  1. (astronomy) planet
  2. definite singular of plan

Declension

Inflection of planet 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative planet planeten planeter planeterna
Genitive planets planetens planeters planeternas

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowing from French planète.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): płaˈnet
  • Hyphenation: pla‧net

Noun

planet ‎(definite accusative planeti, plural planetler)

  1. (astronomy, rare) planet

Declension

Synonyms

Etymology

A loanword from Latin planeta, planetes, from Ancient Greek πλανήτης ‎(planḗtēs), a variant of πλάνης ‎(plánēs, “wanderer”). The German term Wandelstern is a calque of the former. See also wanderstar.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /plaˈneːt/

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