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s to its former position, as in the case when the center of gravity is below the point or axis of support; -- opposed to unstable equilibrium, in which the body if disturbed does not tend to return to its former position, but to move farther away from it, as in the case of a body supported at a point below the center o…

The stem or main axis of a plant; as, a stalk of wheat, rye, or oats; the stalks of maize or hemp.

The entire central axis of a feather.

nt of the genus Pelargonium; -- so called in allusion to the beaklike prolongation of the axis of the receptacle of its flower. See Pelargonium.

e 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 being parallel. Brande & C.

That part of the axis of a curved line which is intercepted between the ordinate and the normal.

The part of the axis contained between the ordinate and tangent drawn to the same point in a curve.

A bare axis or cylinder with staves or levers in it to turn it round, but without any drum.

porarily abate or suspend a suit. -- Points of suspension (Mech.), the points, as in the axis or beam of a balance, at which the weights act, or from which they are suspended. -- Suspension bridge, a bridge supported by chains, ropes, or wires, which usually pass over high piers or columns at each end, and are secure…

An oval figure, whose 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.

hed to another piece by a pin, in such a manner as to permit rotation about the pin as an axis.

Likeness in the form and size of floral organs of the same kind; regularity. Axis of symmetry. (Geom.) See under Axis. -- Respective symmetry, that disposition of parts in which only the opposite sides are equal to each other.

Composed of superposed branches in such a way as to imitate a simple axis; as, a sympodial stem.

An axis or stem produced by dichotomous branching in which one of the branches is regularly developed at the expense of the other, as in the grapevine.

Prophylaxis. [Obs.]

That department of medicine which relates to the preservation of health; prophylaxis. [Obs.]

ay. Tandem engine, a compound steam engine having two or more steam cylinders in the same axis, close to one another. -- Tandem bicycle or tricycle, one for two persons in which one rider sits before the other.

is between the point of tangency and a given line, the given line being, for example, the axis of abscissas, or a radius of a circle produced. See Trigonometrical function, under Function. Artificial, or Logarithmic, tangent, the logarithm of the natural tangent of an arc. -- Natural tangent, a decimal expressing the…

h whorl or set. -- Tern peduncles (Bot.), three peduncles growing together from the same axis. -- Tern schooner (Naut.), a three-masted schooner.

Of or retaining to thermotaxis.