PARALLAX n.
t as seen separately by one eye, and then by the other, the head remaining unmoved. -- Diurnal, or Geocentric, parallax, the parallax of a body with reference to the earth's center. This is the kind of parallax that is generally understood when the term is used without qualification. -- Heliocentric parallax, the par…
PILLOW n.
slip. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- Pillow block (Mach.), a block, or standard, for supporting a journal, as of a shaft. It is usually bolted to the frame or foundation of a machine, and is often furnished with journal boxes, and a movable cover, or cap, for tightening the bearings by means of bolts; -- called also pillar block…
PRECESSION n.
planets, upon the protuberant matter about the earth's equator, in connection with its diurnal rotation; -- so called because either equinox, owing to its westerly motion, comes to the meridian sooner each day than the point it would have occupied without the motion of precession, and thus precedes that point continua…
RACCOON n.
A North American nocturnal carnivore (Procyon lotor) allied to the bears, but much smaller, and having a long, full tail, banded with black and gray. Its body is gray, varied with black and white. Called also coon, and mapach.
STRAP n.
a bolt of which one end is a flat bar of considerable length. -- Strap head (Mach.), a journal box, or pair of brasses, secured to the end of a connecting rod by a strap. See Illust. of Gib and key, under Gib. -- Strap hinge, a hinge with long flaps by which it is fastened, as to a door or wall. -- Strap rail (Railr…