PLATONIC; PLATONICAL a.
cosahedron. -- Platonic love, a pure, spiritual affection, subsisting between persons of opposite sex, unmixed with carnal desires, and regarding the mind only and its excellences; -- a species of love for which Plato was a warm advocate. -- Platonic year (Astron.), a period of time determined by the revolution of th…
POLAR a.
or surface. -- Polar forces (Physics), forces that are developed and act in pairs, with opposite tendencies or properties in the two elements, as magnetism, electricity, etc. -- Polar hare (Zoöl.), a large hare of Arctic America (Lepus arcticus), which turns pure white in winter. It is probably a variety of the comm…
POLARITY n.
That quality or condition of a body in virtue of which it exhibits opposite, or contrasted, properties or powers, in opposite, or contrasted, parts or directions; or a condition giving rise to a contrast of properties corresponding to a contrast of positions, as, for example, attraction and repulsion in the opposite pa…
PRISM n.
d by giving them different refracting angles, so that, when placed together so as to have opposite relative positions, a ray of light passed through them is refracted or bent into a new position, but is free from color. -- Nicol's prism, Nicol prism. Etym: [So called from Wm. Nicol, of Edinburgh, who first proposed it…
QUARTER n.
-- a butcher's term. -- On the quarter (Naut.), in a direction between abeam and astern; opposite, or nearly opposite, a vessel's quarter. -- Quarter aspect. (Astrol.) Same as Quadrate. -- Quarter back (Football), the player who has position next behind center rush, and receives the ball on the snap back. -- Quarte…
RECORD n.
ce. -- Trial by record, a trial which is had when a matter of record is pleaded, and the opposite party pleads that there is no such record. In this case the trial is by inspection of the record itself, no other evidence being admissible. Blackstone. -- To beat, or break, the record (Sporting), to surpass any perform…