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Any voluta. Volute spiring, a spring formed of a spiral scroll of plate, rod, or wire, extended or extensible in the direction of the axis of the coil, in which direction its elastic force is exerted and employed.

Having a volute, or spiral scroll.

Rolled or wound together, one part upon another; -- said of the leaves of plants in æstivation.

Having convolutions. beaks recurved and convoluted like a ram's horn. Pennant.

To devolve. [Obs.] Foxe.

A curve from which another curve, called the involute or evolvent, is described by the end of a thread gradually wound upon the former, or unwound from it. See Involute. It is the locus of the centers of all the circles which are osculatory to the given curve or evolvent.

d of a string wound upon another curve, or unwound from it; -- called also evolvent. See Evolute.

Rolled inward from the edges; -- said of leaves in vernation, or of the petals of flowers in æstivation. Gray.

Overlapping; contorted; convolute; -- applied primarily, in botany, to two opposite leaves, each of which has one edge overlapping the nearest edge of the other, and secondarily to a circle of several leaves or petals which thus overlap.

Rolled backward or downward.

Having a plainted and convolute arrangement in the bud, as in the morning-glory.

onic capital (Arch.), a line passing perpendicularly through the middle of the eye of the volute. -- Neutral axis (Mech.), the line of demarcation between the horizontal elastic forces of tension and compression, exerted by the fibers in any cross section of a girder. -- Optic axis of a crystal, the direction in whic…

stalks rising out of the lower leafage and terminating in leaves which seem to suport the volutes. See Illust. of Corinthian order, under Corinthian.

Arranged so as to overlap each other; as, petals in contorted or convolute æstivation.

That part of the Ionic capital between the abacus and quarter round, which forms the volute. Gwilt.

ale of gradation used in finding the different points for drawing the spiral curve of the volute. Gwilt. -- Diminishing rule (Arch.), a board cut with a concave edge, for fixing the entasis and curvature of a shaft. -- Diminishing stile (Arch.), a stile which is narrower in one part than in another, as in many glazed…

The formation of an involute by unwrapping a thread from a curve as an evolute. Hutton.

The involute of a curve. See Involute, and Evolute.

se it has a colored spot like an eye at one end. -- Eye doctor, an oculist. -- Eye of a volute (Arch.), the circle in the center of volute. -- Eye of day, Eye of the morning, Eye of heaven, the sun. "So gently shuts the eye day." Mrs. Barbauld. -- Eye of a ship, the foremost part in the bows of a ship, where, forme…

sh (Zoöl.), the angel fish. -- Fiddle head, an ornament on a ship's bow, curved like the volute or scroll at the head of a violin. -- Fiddle pattern, a form of the handles of spoons, forks, etc., somewhat like a violin. -- Scotch fiddle, the itch. (Low) -- To play first, or second, fiddle, to take a leading or a sub…