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A projecting ornament placed at the intersection of the ribs of ceilings, whether vaulted or flat, and in other situations.

Concise; terse; succinct. The brief style is that which expresseth much in little. B. Jonson.

Of fundamental importance; preëminet; superior; chief; principal. The cardinal intersections of the zodiac. Sir T. Browne. Impudence is now a cardinal virtue. Drayton. But cardinal sins, and hollow hearts, I fear ye. Shak. Cardinal numbers, the numbers one, two, three, etc., in distinction from first, second, third, et…

rument, or the line which passes through the optical center of the object glass and the intersection of the cross wires at its focus.

One of two great circles intersecting at right angles in the poles of the equator. One of them passes through the equinoctial points, and hence is denominated the equinoctial colure; the other intersects the equator at the distance of 90º from the former, and is called the solstitial colure. Thrice the equinoctial line…

In a compact manner; with close union of parts; densely; tersely.

ining to a cone; as, conic sections. Conic section (Geom.), a curved line formed by the intersection of the surface of a right cone and a plane. The conic sections are the parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola. The right lines and the circle which result from certain positions of the plane are sometimes, though not generall…

ation, etc. -- Contour line (Topographical Suv.), the line in which a horizontal plane intersects a portion of ground, or the corresponding line in a map or chart.

Not parallel; lying or falling athwart; transverse; oblique; intersecting. The cross refraction of the second prism. Sir I. Newton.

Vaulting formed by the intersection of two or more simple vaults.

, v. t. To cut across or through; to intersect.

Intersection, as of two paths or roads.

A road that crosses another; an obscure road intersecting or avoiding the main road.

Having the form of a cross; appertaining to a cross; cruciform; intersecting; as, crucial ligaments; a crucial incision.

To intersect; to cross; as, one line cuts another at right angles.

To cross at an acute angle; to cut or divide in the form of X; to intersect; -- said of lines in geometrical figures, rays of light, nerves, etc.

Crossed; intersected.

Act of crossing at an acute angle, or state of being thus crossed; an intersection in the form of an X; as, the decussation of lines, nerves, etc.

Intersecting at acute angles. Sir T. Browne.

oward the south. -- Descending node (Astron.), that point in a planet's orbit where it intersects the ecliptic in passing southward. -- Descending series (Math.), a series in which each term is numerically smaller than the preceding one; also, a series arranged according to descending powers of a quantity.…