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th 27 d. 13 h. 18 m. 37.4 s.; and the tropical, or time of passing from any point of the ecliptic to the same again, equal to 27 d. 7 h. 43 m. 4.7 s. -- Solar month, the time in which the sun passes through one sign of the zodiac, in mean length 30 d. 10 h. 29 m. 4.1 s.

To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip. The small shoots ... must be nipped off. Mortimer.

The middle or highest point of the part of the ecliptic which is at any given moment above the horizon. It is the ninetieth degree of the ecliptic, reckoned from the points in which it is intersected by the horizon.

small libratory motion of the earth's axis, by which its inclination to the plane of the ecliptic is constantly varying by a small amount.

or perpendicularity; the amount of such deviation; divergence; as, the obliquity of the ecliptic to the equator.

eration of obscuring; the state of being obscured; as, the obscuration of the moon in an eclipse. Sir J. Herschel.

y attention to; to notice with care; to see; to perceive; to discover; as, to observe an eclipse; to observe the color or fashion of a dress; to observe the movements of an army.

To eclipse; to hide from sight.

sight by the intervention of some other of the heavenly bodies; -- applied especially to eclipses of stars and planets by the moon, and to the eclipses of satellites of planets by their primaries.

or separating; separation; as, to take off the hat or cloak; to cut off, to pare off, to clip off, to peel off, to tear off, to march off, to fly off, and the like.

Banishment; exclusion; as, social ostracism. Public envy is as an ostracism, that eclipseth men when they grow too great. Bacon. Sentenced to a perpetual ostracism from the . . . confidence, and honors, and emoluments of his country. A. Hamilton.

See def. 6. above. (b) (Astron.) One of the small circles of the sphere, parallel to the ecliptic.

or affecting, a part only; not general or universal; not total or entire; as, a partial eclipse of the moon. "Partial dissolutions of the earth." T. Burnet.

In part; not totally; as, partially true; the sun partially eclipsed. Sir T. Browne.

To go from one person to another; hence, to be given and taken freely; as, clipped coin will not pass; to obtain general acceptance; to be held or regarded; to circulate; to be current; -- followed by for before a word denoting value or estimation. "Let him pass for a man." Shak. False eloquence passeth only where true…

The shadow cast, in an eclipse, where the light is partly, but not wholly, cut off by the intervening body; the space of partial illumination between the umbra, or perfect shadow, on all sides, and the full light. Sir I. Newton.

d astronomical line, circle, or other curve; as, the plane of an orbit; the plane of the ecliptic, or of the equator.

, two circles, each at a distance from a pole of the earth equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic, or about 23º 28', the northern called the arctic circle, and the southern the antarctic circle. -- Polar clock, a tube, containing a polarizing apparatus, turning on an axis parallel to that of the earth, and indicating…

a point is called the pole of that circle; as, the pole of the horizon; the pole of the ecliptic; the pole of a given meridian.

To remove the poll or head of; hence, to remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop; to shear; as, to poll the head; to poll a tree. When he [Absalom] pollled his head. 2 Sam. xiv. 26. His death did so grieve them that they polled themselves; they clipped off their horse and mule's hairs. Sir T. North.…