colure

[ kuh-loor, koh-, koh-loor ]

See synonyms for colure on Thesaurus.com

nounAstronomy.

either of two great circles of the celestial sphere intersecting each other at the poles, one passing through both equinoxes and the other through both solstices.

Origin of colure

1540–50; <Late Latin colūrus<Greek kólouros dock-tailed, equivalent to kól(os) docked + -ouros -tailed, adj. derivative of ourá tail; so called because the lower part is permanently hidden beneath the horizon

Words Nearby colure

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use colure in a sentence

For some reason, the equator, the colure, the zenith and the poles were all marked out by these serpentine or draconic forms.
The Astronomy of the Bible | E. Walter Maunder
The western star, in the head of Andromeda, lies in the equinoctial colure.
Letters on Astronomy | Denison Olmsted
The solstitial colure is the meridian which passes through the solstitial points.
Letters on Astronomy | Denison Olmsted
The equinoctial colure is the meridian which passes through the equinoctial points.
Letters on Astronomy | Denison Olmsted
Note the star μ, which serves to point out the Winter Solstice, where the solstitial colure intersects the ecliptic.
A Field Book of the Stars | William Tyler Olcott

British Dictionary definitions for colure

colure

/ (kəˈlʊə, ˈkəʊlʊə) /

noun

either of two great circles on the celestial sphere, one of which passes through the celestial poles and the equinoxes and the other through the poles and the solstices

Origin of colure

C16: from Late Latin colūrī (plural), from Greek kolourai cut short, dock-tailed, from kolos docked + oura tail; so called because the view of the lower part is curtailed

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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