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Of or pertaining to thigmotaxis.

ly of steam to the steam chest. In one form it consists of a disk turning on a transverse axis.

A turning or twisting; tendency to turn, or cause to turn, about an axis.

he exertion of a lateral force tending to turn one end or part of it about a longitudinal axis, while the other is held fast or turned in the opposite direction.

ith which a thread or wire returns to a state of rest after having been twisted round its axis; as, torsional force.

, or in a crosswise direction; athwart; -- often opposed to Ant: longitudinal. Transverse axis (of an ellipse or hyperbola) (Geom.), that axis which passes through the foci. -- Transverse partition (Bot.), a partition, as of a pericarp, at right angles with the valves, as in the siliques of mustard.…

orked by persons treading upon steps on the periphery of a wide wheel having a horizontal axis. It is used principally as a means of prison discipline. Also, a mill worked by horses, dogs, etc., treading an endless belt.

Admitting of rotation on an axis; -- sometimes applied to a pivot joint like that between the atlas and axis in the vertebral column.

drumhead of a capstan; especially, the drumhead of the lower of two capstans on the sane axis.

Any ruminant having horns composed of a bony axis covered with a horny sheath; a hollow-horned ruminant.

ge position, so as to face differently; to whirl or wheel round; as, a wheel turns on its axis; a spindle turns on a pivot; a man turns on his heel. The gate . . . on golden hinges turning. Milton.

Repeated twinning, twinning of more than two crystals, or parts of crystals. -- Twinning axis, Twinning plane. See the Note under Twin, n.

To distort, as a solid body, by turning one part relatively to another about an axis passing through both; to subject to torsion; as, to twist a shaft.

A drum-shaped wheel with spirally curved partitions by which water is raised to the axis when the wheel revolves with the lower part of the circumference submerged, -- used for raising water, as for irrigation.

Having but one optic axis, or line of no double refraction.

ne-sided; as, a unilateral raceme, in which the flowers grow only on one side of a common axis, or are all turned to one side. Unilateral contract (Law), a contract or engagement requiring future action only by one party.

Producing but one axis of inflorescence; -- said of the scorpioid cyme.

of total reflection at the angle, and the eye end constitutes a portion of the horizontal axis of the instrument, having the eyepiece at the pivot and in the center of the altitude circle, so that the eye has convenient access to both at the same time. -- Universal joint (Mach.), a contrivance used for joining two sha…

The central axis or cord in the tail of larval ascidians and of certain adult tunicates. [Written also urocord.]

o reel or stagger; to waver. [A spheroid] is always liable to shift and vacillatefrom one axis to another. Paley.