comet
com.et \'ka:m-*t\ \-*-.ter-e-\ \k*-'met-ik, ka:-\ n [ME comete, fr. OE cometa, fr. L, fr. Gk kome-te-s, lit]., long-haired, fr. koman to wear long hair, fr. kome- hair : a celestial body that consists of a fuzzy head usu. surrounding a bright nucleus, that often when in the part of its orbit near the sun develops a long tail which points away from the sun, and that has an orbit varying in eccentricity between nearly round and parabolic - com.e.tary aj