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.
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.
The surface generated by a straight line, the generator, passing through a fixed point, the vertex, and moving along a fixed curve, the directrix.
A right circular cone.
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.
Something having the shape of this figure: "the cone of illuminated drops spilling beneath a street lamp"(Anne Tyler).
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.
A similar structure that produces spores on club mosses, horsetails, and spike mosses.
Any reproductive structure resembling a cone, such as a cluster of hop or alder fruits.
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.
Something having the shape of this figure: "the cone of illuminated drops spilling beneath a street lamp"(Anne Tyler).
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.
A similar structure that produces spores on club mosses, horsetails, and spike mosses.
Any reproductive structure resembling a cone, such as a cluster of hop or alder fruits.
Botany
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.
A similar structure that produces spores on club mosses, horsetails, and spike mosses.
Any reproductive structure resembling a cone, such as a cluster of hop or alder fruits.
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.
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.]
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 RODb: 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
A three-dimensional surface or solid object in which the base is a circle and upper surface narrows to form a point. The surface of a cone is formed mathematically by moving a line that passes through a fixed point (the vertex) along a circle.
A rounded or elongated reproductive structure that consists of sporophylls or scales arranged spirally or in an overlapping fashion along a central stem, as in conifers and cycads. For example, the familiar woody pinecone is actually the female cone, made up of ovule-bearing scales. The smaller male cones of the pine consist of thin overlapping microsporophylls. These produce pollen that is carried by the wind to fertilize ovules in the female cones. When the seeds in the female cones mature, the cones of many pine species expand to release them. In some pine species, cones release seeds only in response to the presence of fire. See also strobilus.
One of the cone-shaped cells in the retina of the eye of many vertebrate animals. Cones are extremely sensitive to light and can distinguish among different wavelengths. Cones are responsible for vision during daylight and for the ability to see colors. Compare rod.
[kohn] 
noun, verb, coned, con⋅ing.
