shooting star
• noun
A small, rapidly moving meteor that burns up upon entering Earth's atmosphere, creating a brief, bright streak of light across the night sky.
"While camping in the desert, we lay on our backs and made a wish every time a shooting star streaked across the dark sky."
A person, organization, or product that achieves sudden, brilliant success or fame, often implying that the prominence may be brief.
"The young novelist was hailed as a literary shooting star after her debut book topped the bestseller lists within a week."
North American Any of several North American perennial flowering plants of the genus Primula (formerly Dodecatheon) in the primrose family, prized for their nodding, dart-like blossoms with swept-back magenta, pink, or white petals.
"Along the damp woodland trail in spring, clusters of pink shooting stars bloomed beside the wild ferns."
Word Nuance & Usage
Despite its name, a 'shooting star' is not an actual star, which is a massive ball of plasma far outside our solar system, but rather a small meteoroid burning up via friction in Earth's atmosphere.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.