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The half of a circle; the part of a circle bounded by its diameter and half of its circumference.

Semicircular. Shak.

irect form of words; circumlocution. [R.] Has he given the lie, In circle, or oblique, or semicircle. J. Fletcher.

ration of a line or curve by the motion of a point, of a surface by a line, a sphere by a semicircle, etc.

aced. These arms turn about a fixed point, which is the center of the graduated circle or semicircle upon which the angle is read off. -- Reflecting goniometer, an instrument for measuring the angles of crystals by determining through what angular space the crystal must be turned so that two rays reflected from two su…

A half circle; a semicircle.

t; Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought. Pope. Imperfect arch, an arch of less than a semicircle; a skew arch. -- Imperfect cadence (Mus.), one not ending with the tonic, but with the dominant or some other chord; one not giving complete rest; a half close. -- Imperfect consonances (Mus.), chords like the third a…

Having a border or outline composed of semicircles with the convexity outward; -- the opposite of engrailed.

A figure, somewhat hatched-shaped, bounded by a semicircle and two inverted quadrants, and equal in area to the square ABCD inclosed by the chords of the four quadrants. [Written also pelicoid.] Math. Dict.

n of a right-angled triangle about one of its sides generates a cone; the revolution of a semicircle about the diameter generates a sphere.

Having the figure of a half circle; forming a semicircle. Grew.

onic, a. -- Spherical lune,portion of the surface of a sphere included between two great semicircles having a common diameter. -- Spherical opening, the magnitude of a solid angle. It is measured by the portion within the solid angle of the surface of any sphere whose center is the angular point. -- Spherical polygo…

antity by which an arc or an angle falls short of 180 degrees, or an arc falls short of a semicircle.

cient Romans, consisting of a single broad piece of woolen cloth of a shape approaching a semicircle. It was of undyed wool, except the border of the toga prætexta. Toga prætexta. Etym: [L.], a toga with a broad purple border, worn by children of both sexes, by magistrates, and by persons engaged in sacred rites. -- T…

It turns both on a vertical and a horizontal axis, is provided with a graduated vertical semicircle, and a level for setting it to a given zenith distance, and with a micrometer for measuring the difference of the zenith distances of the two stars.