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vertex - 7 dictionary results
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ver⋅tex

  [vur-teks]
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–noun, plural -tex⋅es, -ti⋅ces  [-tuh-seez] .
1. the highest point of something; apex; summit; top: the vertex of a mountain.
2. Anatomy, Zoology. the crown or top of the head.
3. Craniometry. the highest point on the midsagittal plane of the skull or head viewed from the left side when the skull or head is in the Frankfurt horizontal.
4. Astronomy. a point in the celestial sphere toward which or from which the common motion of a group of stars is directed.
5. Geometry.
a. the point farthest from the base: the vertex of a cone or of a pyramid.
b. a point in a geometrical solid common to three or more sides.
c. the intersection of two sides of a plane figure.
Origin:
1560–70; < L: a whirl, top (of the head), equiv. to vert(ere) to turn + -ex (s. -ic-) n. suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ver·tex   (vûr'těks')   
n.   pl. ver·ti·ces (-tĭ-sēz') also ver·tex·es
  1. The highest point; the apex or summit: the vertex of a mountain.
  2. Anatomy
    1. The highest point of the skull.
    2. The top of the head.
    3. The point at which the sides of an angle intersect.
    4. The point on a triangle or pyramid opposite to and farthest away from its base.
    5. A point on a polyhedron common to three or more sides.
  3. Astronomy The highest point reached in the apparent motion of a celestial body.
  4. Mathematics
    1. The point at which the sides of an angle intersect.
    2. The point on a triangle or pyramid opposite to and farthest away from its base.
    3. A point on a polyhedron common to three or more sides.

[Latin, whirlpool, crown of the head (where the hair forms a whorl), vertex, from vertere, to turn; see wer-2 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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Vertex

Ver"tex\, n.; pl. Vertexes, L. Vertices. [L. vertex, -icis, a whirl, top of the head, top, summit, from vertere to turn. See Verse, and cf. Vortex.] A turning point; the principal or highest point; top; summit; crown; apex. Specifically: (a) (Anat.) The top, or crown, of the head. (b) (Anat.) The zenith, or the point of the heavens directly overhead. (c) (Math.) The point in any figure opposite to, and farthest from, the base; the terminating point of some particular line or lines in a figure or a curve; the top, or the point opposite the base.

Note: The principal vertex of a conic section is, in the parabola, the vertex of the axis of the curve: in the ellipse, either extremity of either axis, but usually the left-hand vertex of the transverse axis; in the hyperbola, either vertex, but usually the right-hand vertex of the transverse axis.

Vertex of a curve (Math.), the point in which the axis of the curve intersects it.

Vertex of an angle (Math.), the point in which the sides of the angle meet.

Vertex of a solid, or of a surface of revolution (Math.), the point in which the axis pierces the surface.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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vertex 
1570, "the point opposite the base in geometry," from L. vertex "highest point," lit. "the turning point," originally "whirling column, whirlpool," from vertere "to turn" (see versus). Meaning "highest point of anything" is first attested 1641.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: ver·tex
Pronunciation: 'v&r-"teks
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural ver·ti·ces /'v&rt-&-"sEz/ also ver·tex·es
1 : the top of the head
2 : the highest point of the skull
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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vertex ver·tex (vûr'těks')
n. pl. ver·tex·es or ver·ti·ces (-tĭ-sēz')

  1. The highest point; the apex.
  2. The topmost point of the vault of the skull; the crown of the head.
  3. The portion of the fetal head bounded by the planes of the trachelobregmatic and biparietal diameters, with the posterior fontanel at the apex.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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vertex   (vûr'těks')  Pronunciation Key 
Plural vertices (vûr'tĭ-sēz') or vertexes
  1. The point at which the sides of an angle intersect.
  2. The point of a triangle, cone, or pyramid that is opposite to and farthest away from its base.
  3. A point of a polyhedron at which three or more of the edges intersect.

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