Definition of Osculant

1. a. Kissing; hence, meeting; clinging.

Definition of Osculant

1. Adjective. Kissing; hence, touching or meeting; clinging. ¹

2. Adjective. (zoology) Adhering closely; applied to certain creeping animals, such as caterpillars. ¹

3. Adjective. (biology) Intermediate between two genera, groups, families, etc., and having some of the characteristics of each; interosculant. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Osculant

1. adhering closely [adj]

Medical Definition of Osculant

1. 1. Kissing; hence, meeting; clinging. 2. Adhering closely; embracing; applied to certain creeping animals, as caterpillars. 3. Intermediate in character, or on the border, between two genera, groups, families, etc, of animals or plants, and partaking somewhat of the characters of each, thus forming a connecting link; interosculant; as, the genera by which two families approximate are called osculant genera. Origin: L. Osculans, -antis, p. Pr. Of osculari to kiss. See Osculate. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Osculant

oscinian
oscinine
oscitance
oscitances
oscitancies
oscitancy
oscitant
oscitantly
oscitate
oscitated
oscitates
oscitating
oscitation
oscitations
oscula
osculant (current term)
oscular
osculate
osculated
osculates
osculating
osculating circle
osculating orbit
osculation
osculations
osculator
osculatories
osculators
osculatory
osculatrices

Literary usage of Osculant

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Lessons Introductory to the Modern Higher Algebra by George Salmon (1885)
"The order of the i — 1 equations V, W, &c, IB the product of their degrees n, p, &c.; and the order of the osculant in the coefficients of U is the product ..."

2. An Introduction to Entomology: Or Elements of the Natural History of Insects by William Kirby, William Spence (1826)
"... to the osculant Order Strepsiptera, and from thence by ... making his transit by Sirex L.; forming an osculant Order which he denominates ..."

3. Quadratic Involutions on the Plane Rational Quartic by Thomas Bryce Ashcraft (1911)
"The cubic osculant at a point T of the quartic (2) is (H\ X - <* /2 l ... For a given T this a line, the line of flexes of the cubic osculant at the point T ..."

4. Theory of Differential Equations by Andrew Russell Forsyth (1900)
"To find the equation of the osculant, we eliminate a, ft between this equation, /=0, and -the value of ff being 0 + 6^' The result of the elimination is H ..."

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