satellites

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of satellite.

   Weather satellites send back images of storms forming over the ocean.

   The planet's three small satellites complete their orbits in just a few days.

   Note

   A regular plural that carries most of the noun's meanings at once: moons around a planet, man-made craft in orbit, and states or offices under another body's control. The archaic sense of a great person's hangers-on takes it too. Satellite meaning satellite TV is uncountable, so it has no plural. The spelling is shared with the verb form, and a word like the or three before it usually signals the noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of satellite.

   Note

   Here satellite works as a verb meaning to send by satellite, and it always takes an object: a station satellites its readings, a network satellites a broadcast. The object is the thing being sent, and a destination often follows with to. Its spelling matches the plural noun, but a single sender as the subject tells the reader the verb is meant.

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