Search the Dictionary

or communicating reciprocating motion from or to a cogwheel, consisting of a sector of a circular gear, or ring, having cogs on the periphery, or face. -- Segment of a line, the part of a line contained between two points on it. -- Segment of a sphere, the part of a sphere cut off by a plane, or included between two…

Semicircular. Shak.

A semicircular hollow or opening among trees or hills. Wordsworth.

A roof or ceiling covering a semicircular room or recess, or one of nearly that shape, as the apse of a church, a niche, or the like. It is approximately the quarter of a hollow sphere.

a firearm shooting its projectiles singly, as a tubular attachment for the muzzle having circular plates that permit the passage of the projectile but impart a rotary motion to, and thus retard, the exploding gases.

A division of Scaphopoda including those in which the foot terminates in a circular disk.

One who, or that which, slices; specifically, the circular saw of the lapidary.

ngth of the spiral, and reduce the whole effect to that of a series of equal and parallel circular currents. When traversed by a current the solenoid exhibits polarity and attraction or repulsion, like a magnet.

A piece of rope spliced into a circular wreath, and put round a block for hanging it.

Having, or being in, a contrary order; -- said of a section of an oblique cone having a circular base made by a plane not parallel to the base, but so inclined to the axis that the section is a circle; applied also to two similar triangles when so placed as to have a common angle at the vertex, the opposite sides not b…

ose moldings are oblique to the axis of the work. Moxon. Swash plate (Mach.), a revolving circular plate, set obliquely on its shaft, and acting as a cam to give a reciprocating motion to a rod in a direction parallel to the shaft.

tc. Sweep net, a net for drawing over a large compass. -- Sweep of the tiller (Naut.), a circular frame on which the tiller traverses.

To give a circular movement to; to whirl; to brandish; as, to swing a sword; to swing a club; hence, colloquially, to manage; as, to swing a business.

A small frame, commonly circular, and somewhat resembling a tambourine, used for stretching, and firmly holding, a portion of cloth that is to be embroidered; also, the embroidery done upon such a frame; -- called also, in the latter sense, tambour work.

s being reckoned unity. -- Tangent galvanometer (Elec.), a form of galvanometer having a circular coil and a short needle, in which the tangent of the angle of deflection of the needle is proportional to the strength of the current. -- Tangent of an angle, the natural tangent of the arc subtending or measuring the an…

, given by a bishop, abbot, or cardinal priest, consisting in cutting off the hair from a circular space at the back of the head, with prayers and benedictions; hence, entrance or admission into minor orders.

A lage molding used in the bases of columns. Its profile is semicircular. See Illust. of Molding. Brande&C.

A circular plate or a cross, with two or more cross grooves intersecting at the center, used on the end of a shaft to transmit motion to another shaft not in line with the first.

An instrument for trepanning, being an improvement on the trepan. It is a circular or cylindrical saw, with a handle like that of a gimlet, and a little sharp perforator called the center pin.

A medicinal tablet or lozenge; strictly, one of circular form.