cirrus
Meteorology.
a cloud of a class characterized by thin white filaments or narrow bands and a composition of ice crystals: of high altitude, about 20,000–40,000 feet (6000–12,000 meters).
a cirriform cloud.
Botany. a tendril.
Zoology.
a filament or slender appendage serving as a foot, tentacle, barbel, etc.
the male copulatory organ of flatworms and various other invertebrates.
Origin of cirrus
1Words Nearby cirrus
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use cirrus in a sentence
Some research groups have also explored whether releasing certain particles could break up cirrus clouds, which trap heat against the Earth, or make low-lying marine clouds more reflective.
The US government is developing a solar geoengineering research plan | James Temple | July 1, 2022 | MIT Technology ReviewBoth the ancient and the modern creatures have eight arms bearing suckers flanked by hairlike cirri.
Vampire squid are gentle blobs. But this ancestor was a fierce hunter | Carolyn Gramling | June 23, 2022 | Science NewsThis cloud may either evaporate or disappear, or it may pass to the cirrus, or sink lower and become a cirro-stratus.
The Rain Cloud | AnonymousThe cirrus occurs in very great variety, and in some states of the air is constantly changing.
The Rain Cloud | AnonymousIn dry weather the cirrus is sharp, defined, and fibrous in texture, the lines vanishing off in fine points.
The Rain Cloud | Anonymous
Filling the vision to the south-west was Aurora Peak, in crisp silhouette against a glorious radiant of cirrus cloud.
The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas MawsonVentral tentacular cirrus of second somite of a thin or foliaceous and asymmetrical form.
British Dictionary definitions for cirrus
/ (ˈsɪrəs) /
meteorol a thin wispy fibrous cloud at high altitudes, composed of ice particles
a plant tendril or similar part
zoology
a slender tentacle or filament in barnacles and other marine invertebrates
a hairlike structure in other animals, such as a filament on the appendage of an insect or a barbel of a fish
Origin of cirrus
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for cirrus
[ sîr′əs ]
A high-altitude cloud composed of feathery white patches or bands of ice crystals. Cirrus clouds generally form between 6,100 and 12,200 m (20,000 and 40,000 ft). See illustration at cloud.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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