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To utter platitudes or truisms.

Abounding in platitudes; of the nature of platitudes; uttering platitudes. -- Plat`i*tu"di*nous*ness, n.

the sphere in which the meridians are drawn parallel to each other, and the parallels of latitude are straight lines whose distance from each other increases with their distance from the equator, so that at all places the degrees of latitude and longitude have to each other the same ratio as on the sphere itself. --…

ent provided with a graduated circle for the measurement of refraction. -- Refraction of latitude, longitude, declination, right ascension, etc., the change in the apparent latitude, longitude, etc., of a heavenly body, due to the effect of atmospheric refraction. -- Terrestrial refraction, the change in the apparent…

ight sailing (Naut.), sailing on one of the four cardinal points, so as to alter a ship's latitude or its longitude, but not both. Ham. Nav. Encyc. -- Right sphere (Astron. & Geol.), a sphere in such a position that the equator cuts the horizon at right angles; in spherical projections, that position of the sphere in…

forties (Naut.), a sailor's name for the stormy tract of ocean between 40º and 50º north latitude.

The middle latitudes of the southern hemisphere. So called from the boisterous and prevailing westerly winds, which are especially strong in the South Indian Ocean up to 50º S.

A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur.

transparent, tubular, free-swimming oceanic tunicates found abundantly in all the warmer latitudes. See Illustration in Appendix.

or measuring angular distances between objects, -- used esp. at sea, for ascertaining the latitude and longitude. It is constructed on the same optical principle as Hadley's quadrant, but usually of metal, with a nicer graduation, telescopic sight, and its arc the sixth, and sometimes the third, part of a circle. See Q…

To become short or shorter; as, the day shortens in northern latitudes from June to December; a metallic rod shortens by cold.

Capricorn, the former being the summer solstice, latter the winter solstice, in northern latitudes; - - so called because the sun then apparently stands still in its northward or southward motion.

Distance of any heavenly body south of the equator; south declination; south latitude.

f the sphere, and the problems connected with them, in astronomy and geography, as to the latitudes and longitudes, distance and bearing, of places on the earth, and the right ascension and declination, altitude and azimuth, rising and setting, etc., of the heavenly bodies; spherical geometry. -- Music of the spheres.…

e vernal season, usually comprehending the months of March, April, and May, in the middle latitudes north of the equator. "The green lap of the new-come spring." Shak.

ine; to restrain; to restrict to a scant allowance. I shall not go about to extenuate the latitude of the curse upon the earth, or stint it only to the production of weeds. Woodward. She stints them in their meals. Law.

ship. -- Traverse table. (a) (Naut. & Surv.) A table by means of which the difference of latitude and departure corresponding to any given course and distance may be found by inspection. It contains the lengths of the two sides of a right-angled triangle, usually for every quarter of a degree of angle, and for lengths…

One of the two parallels of terrestrial latitude corresponding to the celestial tropics, and called by the same names. (b) pl.

of, or incident to, the tropics; being within the tropics; as, tropical climate; tropical latitudes; tropical heat; tropical diseases.

or, 3. -- Zenith telescope (Geodesy), a telescope specially designed for determining the latitude by means of any two stars which pass the meridian about the same time, and at nearly equal distances from the zenith, but on opposite sides of it. It turns both on a vertical and a horizontal axis, is provided with a grad…