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cone

 - 5 dictionary results

cone

  [kohn] noun, verb, coned, con⋅ing.
Use cone in a Sentence
–noun
1. Geometry.
a. a solid whose surface is generated by a line passing through a fixed point and a fixed plane curve not containing the point, consisting of two equal sections joined at a vertex.
b. a plane surface resembling the cross section of a solid cone.
2. anything shaped like a cone: sawdust piled up in a great cone; the cone of a volcano.
3. ice-cream cone.
4. Botany.
a. the more or less conical multiple fruit of the pine, fir, etc., consisting of overlapping or valvate scales bearing naked ovules or seeds; a strobile.
b. a similar fruit, as in cycads or club mosses.
5. Anatomy. one of the cone-shaped cells in the retina of the eye, sensitive to color and intensity of light. Compare rod (def. 17).
6. one of a series of cone-shaped markers placed along a road, as around an area of highway construction, esp. to exclude or divert motor vehicles.
7. (in a taper thread screw or bevel gear) an imaginary cone or frustum of a cone concentric to the axis and defining the pitch surface or one of the extremities of the threads or teeth.
8. Ceramics. pyrometric cone.
–verb (used with object)
9. to shape like a cone or a segment of a cone.
Origin:
1480–90; < L cōnus < Gk kônos pine-cone, cone-shaped figure; akin to hone 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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cone   (kōn)   


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n.  

  1. Mathematics

    1. The surface generated by a straight line, the generator, passing through a fixed point, the vertex, and moving along a fixed curve, the directrix.

    2. A right circular cone.

    3. The figure formed by a cone, bound or regarded as bound by its vertex and a plane section taken anywhere above or below the vertex.

    4. Something having the shape of this figure: "the cone of illuminated drops spilling beneath a street lamp" (Anne Tyler).

    5. A unisexual reproductive structure of gymnospermous plants such as conifers and cycads, typically consisting of a central axis around which there are scaly, overlapping, spirally arranged sporophylls that develop pollen-bearing sacs or naked ovules or seeds.

    6. A similar structure that produces spores on club mosses, horsetails, and spike mosses.

    7. Any reproductive structure resembling a cone, such as a cluster of hop or alder fruits.

    1. The figure formed by a cone, bound or regarded as bound by its vertex and a plane section taken anywhere above or below the vertex.

    2. Something having the shape of this figure: "the cone of illuminated drops spilling beneath a street lamp" (Anne Tyler).

    3. A unisexual reproductive structure of gymnospermous plants such as conifers and cycads, typically consisting of a central axis around which there are scaly, overlapping, spirally arranged sporophylls that develop pollen-bearing sacs or naked ovules or seeds.

    4. A similar structure that produces spores on club mosses, horsetails, and spike mosses.

    5. Any reproductive structure resembling a cone, such as a cluster of hop or alder fruits.

  3. Botany

    1. A unisexual reproductive structure of gymnospermous plants such as conifers and cycads, typically consisting of a central axis around which there are scaly, overlapping, spirally arranged sporophylls that develop pollen-bearing sacs or naked ovules or seeds.

    2. A similar structure that produces spores on club mosses, horsetails, and spike mosses.

    3. Any reproductive structure resembling a cone, such as a cluster of hop or alder fruits.

  4. Physiology One of the photoreceptors in the retina of the eye that is responsible for daylight and color vision. These photoreceptors are most densely concentrated in the fovea centralis, creating the area of greatest visual acuity.

  5. Any of various gastropod mollusks of the family Conidae of tropical and subtropical seas, having a conical, often vividly marked shell and the ability to inflict a poisonous, sometimes fatal sting.

tr.v.   coned, con·ing, cones
To shape (something) like a cone or a segment of one.

[French cône and Middle English cone, angle of a quadrant, both from Latin cōnus, from Greek kōnos; see kō- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

cone 
1562, from L. conus "a wedge, peak, cone," from Gk. konos "cone, spinning top, pine cone," from PIE base *ko(n)- "to sharpen."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: cone
Pronunciation: 'kOn
Function: noun
1 : a solid having a circular base and sides that slope evenly to a point
2 a : any of the conical photosensitive receptor cells of the vertebrate retina that function in color vision —compare ROD b : any of a family (Conidae) of numerous somewhat conical tropical gastropod mollusks that include a few highly poisonous forms —see CONUS
3 : a cusp of a tooth especially in the upper jaw
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

cone (kōn)
n.

  1. A solid body having a circle for its base and sides inclined so as to meet at a point above the base.

  2. See cone cell.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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