equator - Definitions from Dictionary.com

11 results for: equator

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

e·qua·tor

Audio Help [i-kwey-ter] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	the great circle on a sphere or heavenly body whose plane is perpendicular to the axis, equidistant everywhere from the two poles of the sphere or heavenly body.

2.	the great circle of the earth that is equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole.

3.	a circle separating a surface into two congruent parts.

4.	celestial equator.

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME < ML aequātor, L: equalizer (of day and night, as when the sun crosses the equator). See equate, -tor

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
equator

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

e·qua·tor Audio Help (ĭ-kwā'tər) Pronunciation Key

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n.

1. The imaginary great circle around the earth's surface, equidistant from the poles and perpendicular to the earth's axis of rotation. It divides the earth into the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.
2. A similar great circle drawn on the surface of a celestial body at right angles to the axis of rotation.
The celestial equator.
A circle that divides a sphere or other surface into congruent parts.

[Middle English, from Medieval Latin aequātor (diēī et noctis), equalizer (of day and night), from Latin aequāre, to equalize; see equate.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
equator

c.1391, from M.L. æquator diei et noctis "equalizer of day and night" (when the sun is on the celestial equator, twice annually, day and night are of equal length), from L. æquare "make equal, equate." Sense of "celestial equator" is earliest, extension to "terrestrial line midway between the poles" first recorded in Eng. 1612.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

equator
noun
1.	an imaginary line around the Earth forming the great circle that is equidistant from the north and south poles; "the equator is the boundary between the northern and southern hemispheres"
2.	a circle dividing a sphere or other surface into two usually equal and symmetrical parts

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
equator [iˈkweitə] noun

(with the) an imaginary line (or one drawn on a map etc) passing round the globe, at an equal distance from the North and South poles
Example: Singapore is almost on the equator.

Arabic:	خَط الإسْتِواء
Chinese (Simplified):	赤道
Chinese (Traditional):	赤道
Czech:	rovník
Danish:	ækvator
Dutch:	evenaar
Estonian:	ekvaator
Finnish:	päiväntasaaja
French:	équateur
German:	der Äquator
Greek:	ισημερινός
Hungarian:	egyenlítő
Icelandic:	miðbaugur
Indonesian:	khatulistiwa
Italian:	equatore

Japanese:	赤道
Korean:	적도
Latvian:	ekvators
Lithuanian:	ekvatorius, pusiaujas
Norwegian:	ekvator
Polish:	równik
Portuguese (Brazil):	equador
Portuguese (Portugal):	equador.
Romanian:	ecuator
Russian:	экватор
Slovak:	rovník
Slovenian:	ekvator
Spanish:	ecuador
Swedish:	ekvator
Turkish:	ekvator

See also: equatorial

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

equator Audio Help (ĭ-kwā'tər) Pronunciation Key

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An imaginary line forming a great circle around the Earth's surface, equidistant from the poles and in a plane perpendicular to the Earth's axis of rotation. It divides the Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres and is the basis from which latitude is measured.
A similar circle on the surface of any celestial body.
The celestial equator.

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

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
equator

An imaginary circle around the Earth, equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole.

[Chapter:] World Geography

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: equa·tor
Pronunciation: i-'kwAt-&r, 'E-"
Function: noun
1 : a circle or circular band dividing the surface of a body into twousually equal and symmetrical parts especially at the place of greatest width equator of the lens of the eye>
2 : EQUATORIAL PLANE equator of the cell —R. P. Levine>

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

equator

Ax"is\, n.; pl. Axes. [L. axis axis, axle. See Axle.] A straight line, real or imaginary, passing through a body, on which it revolves, or may be supposed to revolve; a line passing through a body or system around which the parts are symmetrically arranged.

2. (Math.) A straight line with respect to which the different parts of a magnitude are symmetrically arranged; as, the axis of a cylinder, i. e., the axis of a cone, that is, the straight line joining the vertex and the center of the base; the axis of a circle, any straight line passing through the center.

3. (Bot.) The stem; the central part, or longitudinal support, on which organs or parts are arranged; the central line of any body. --Gray.

4. (Anat.) (a) The second vertebra of the neck, or vertebra dentata. (b) Also used of the body only of the vertebra, which is prolonged anteriorly within the foramen of the first vertebra or atlas, so as to form the odontoid process or peg which serves as a pivot for the atlas and head to turn upon.

5. (Crystallog.) One of several imaginary lines, assumed in describing the position of the planes by which a crystal is bounded.

6. (Fine Arts) The primary or secondary central line of any design.

Anticlinal axis (Geol.), a line or ridge from which the strata slope downward on the two opposite sides.

Synclinal axis, a line from which the strata slope upward in opposite directions, so as to form a valley.

Axis cylinder (Anat.), the neuraxis or essential, central substance of a nerve fiber; -- called also axis band, axial fiber, and cylinder axis.

Axis in peritrochio, the wheel and axle, one of the mechanical powers.

Axis of a curve (Geom.), a straight line which bisects a system of parallel chords of a curve; called a principal axis, when cutting them at right angles, in which case it divides the curve into two symmetrical portions, as in the parabola, which has one such axis, the ellipse, which has two, or the circle, which has an infinite number. The two axes of the ellipse are the major axis and the minor axis, and the two axes of the hyperbola are the transverse axis and the conjugate axis.

Axis of a lens, the straight line passing through its center and perpendicular to its surfaces.

Axis of a telescope or microscope, the straight line with which coincide the axes of the several lenses which compose it.

Axes of co["o]rdinates in a plane, two straight lines intersecting each other, to which points are referred for the purpose of determining their relative position: they are either rectangular or oblique.

Axes of co["o]rdinates in space, the three straight lines in which the co["o]rdinate planes intersect each other.

Axis of a balance, that line about which it turns.

Axis of oscillation, of a pendulum, a right line passing through the center about which it vibrates, and perpendicular to the plane of vibration.

Axis of polarization, the central line around which the prismatic rings or curves are arranged. --Brewster.

Axis of revolution (Descriptive Geom.), a straight line about which some line or plane is revolved, so that the several points of the line or plane shall describe circles with their centers in the fixed line, and their planes perpendicular to it, the line describing a surface of revolution, and the plane a solid of revolution.

Axis of symmetry (Geom.), any line in a plane figure which divides the figure into two such parts that one part, when folded over along the axis, shall coincide with the other part.

Axis of the equator, ecliptic, horizon (or other circle considered with reference to the sphere on which it lies), the diameter of the sphere which is perpendicular to the plane of the circle. --Hutton.

Axis of the Ionic 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 which a ray of transmitted light suffers no double refraction. All crystals, not of the isometric system, are either uniaxial or biaxial.

Optic axis, Visual axis (Opt.), the straight line passing through the center of the pupil, and perpendicular to the surface of the eye.

Radical axis of two circles (Geom.), the straight line perpendicular to the line joining their centers and such that the tangents from any point of it to the two circles shall be equal to each other.

Spiral axis (Arch.), the axis of a twisted column drawn spirally in order to trace the circumvolutions without.

Axis of abscissas and Axis of ordinates. See Abscissa.

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On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

equator

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