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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



25 words match “EQUINOX”

EQUINOX n. 2 definitions
ers one of the equinoctial points, that is, about March 21 and September 22. See Autumnal equinox, Vernal equinox, under Autumnal and Vernal. When descends on the Atlantic The gigantic Stormwind of the equinox. Longfellow.
ARIES n.
The Ram; the first of the twelve signs in the zodiac, which the sun enters at the vernal equinox, about the 21st of March.
AUTUMN n.
lled "the fall." Astronomically, it begins in the northern temperate zone at the autumnal equinox, about September 23, and ends at the winter solstice, about December 23; but in popular language, autumn, in America, comprises September, October, and November.
AUTUMNAL a.
Past the middle of life; in the third stage. An autumnal matron. Hawthorne. Autumnal equinox, the time when the sun crosses the equator, as it proceeds southward, or when it passes the ~ point. -- ~= point, the point of the equator intersected by the ecliptic, as the sun proceeds southward; the first point of Libra.…
BALANCE n.
The seventh sign in the Zodiac, called Libra, which the sun enters at the equinox in September.
BRUMAIRE n.
he calendar adopted by the first French republic. It began thirty days after the autumnal equinox. See Vendemiaire.
EAST n.
The point in the heavens where the sun is seen to rise at the equinox, or the corresponding point on the earth; that one of the four cardinal points of the compass which is in a direction at right angles to that of north and south, and which is toward the right hand of one who faces the north; the point directly opposi…
EQUATION n.
presses the relation between the coördinates of every point in the curve. -- Equation of equinoxes (Astron.), the difference between the mean and apparent places of the equinox. -- Equation of payments (Arith.), the process of finding the mean time of payment of several sums due at different times. -- Equation of ti…
EQUINOCTIAL a. 2 definitions
Pertaining to an equinox, or the equinoxes, or to the time of equal day and night; as, the equinoctial line.
EQUINOCTIALLY adv.
Towards the equinox.
FALL v.
To come; to occur; to arrive. The vernal equinox, which at the Nicene Council fell on the 21st of March, falls now [1694] about ten days sooner. Holder.
GIGANTIC a.
gigantic wickedness. Milton. When descends on the Atlantic The gigantic Strom wind of the equinox. Longfellow.
HARVEST n.
est moon, the moon near the full at the time of harvest in England, or about the autumnal equinox, when, by reason of the small angle that is made by the moon's orbit with the horizon, it rises nearly at the same hour for several days. -- Harvest mouse (Zoöl.), a very small European field mouse (Mus minutus). It build…
INTEREQUINOCTIAL a.
Coming between the equinoxes. Summer and winter I have called interequinoctial intervals. F. Balfour.
LIBRA n.
The Balance; the seventh sign in the zodiac, which the sun enters at the autumnal equinox in September, marked thus libra in almanacs, etc. (b ) A southern constellation between Virgo and Scorpio.
LONGITUDE n.
The distance in degrees, reckoned from the vernal equinox, on the ecliptic, to a circle at right angles to the ecliptic passing through the heavenly body whose longitude is designated; as, the longitude of Capella is 79º. Geocentric longitude (Astron.), the longitude of a heavenly body as seen from the earth. -- Helio…
LUNISOLAR a.
un and moon. Lunisolar precession (Astron.), that portion of the annual precession of the equinoxes which depends on the joint action of the sun and moon. -- Lunisolar year, a period of time, at the end of which, in the Julian calendar, the new and full moons and the eclipses recur on the same days of the week and mon…
PLATONIC; PLATONICAL a.
vocate. -- Platonic year (Astron.), a period of time determined by the revolution of the equinoxes, or the space of time in which the stars and constellations return to their former places in respect to the equinoxes; -- called also great year. This revolution, which is caused by the precession of the equinoxes, is ac…
PRECESSION n.
stron.) See under Lunisolar. -- Planetary precession, that part of the precession of the equinoxes which depends on the action of the planets alone. -- Precession of the equinoxes (Astron.), the slow backward motion of the equinoctial points along the ecliptic, at the rate of 50.2" annually, caused by the action of t…
PRECESSIONAL a.
Of or pertaining to pression; as, the precessional movement of the equinoxes.
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