Meanings
- Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, a comet which collided with Jupiter.
Astronomer Eugene Shoemaker reassured reporters even as the biggest fragment of Shoemaker-Levy was no "dinosaur killer".
1994, Astronomy Now2 more examples
Everything about last July's six-day-long collision of Jupiter and the twenty-one pieces that had made up Shoemaker-Levy was on the giant Jovian scale.
1994, The Michigan Alumnus, page 19Shoemaker-Levy was broken up into a string of pearls by a close encounter with Jupiter, and on their next orbit the pearls slammed into Jupiter one after the other in quick succession.
2012, Russell Gerald Johnston, Random Wisdom, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 462
Origin
From the surnames of the astronomers Carolyn Shoemaker, Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy, who discovered several comets.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Shoemaker-Levy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Shoemaker-Levy
“Shoemaker-Levy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Shoemaker-Levy. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Shoemaker-Levy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Shoemaker-Levy.
Source: Shoemaker-Levy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.