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cosecant

 [koh-see-kuhnt, -kant]   Origin

co·se·cant

   [koh-see-kuhnt, -kant]
noun Trigonometry.
1.
(in a right triangle) the ratio of the hypotenuse to the side opposite a given angle.
2.
the secant of the complement, or the reciprocal of the sine, of a given angle or arc. Abbreviation: csc
Also, cosec.

Origin:
1700–10; < Neo-Latin cosecant- (stem of cosecāns). See co-, secant
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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So is zedonk. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
cosecant (kəʊˈsiːkənt)
 
—n
cosec (of an angle) a trigonometric function that in a right-angled triangle is the ratio of the length of the hypotenuse to that of the opposite side; the reciprocal of sine

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

cosecant
1706, from co- + secant.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
cosecant   (kō-sē'kānt')  Pronunciation Key 

  1. The ratio of the length of the hypotenuse in a right triangle to the length of the side opposite an acute angle. The cosecant is the inverse of the sine.

  2. The reciprocal of the ordinate of the endpoint of an arc of a unit circle centered at the origin of a Cartesian coordinate system, the arc being of length x and measured counterclockwise from the point (1, 0) if x is positive or clockwise if x is negative.

  3. A function of a number x, equal to the cosecant of an angle whose measure in radians is equal to x.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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