Lexic.us

Definition of Spiral

1. Noun. A plane curve traced by a point circling about the center but at increasing distances from the center.

2. Verb. To wind or move in a spiral course. "The young people gyrated on the dance floor"

3. Adjective. In the shape of a coil.

4. Noun. A curve that lies on the surface of a cylinder or cone and cuts the element at a constant angle.

5. Verb. Form a spiral. "The wires spiral around the stick"; "The path spirals up the mountain"

6. Noun. A continuously accelerating change in the economy.

7. Verb. Move in a spiral or zigzag course.

8. Noun. Ornament consisting of a curve on a plane that winds around a center with an increasing distance from the center.

9. Noun. A structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops. "A coil of rope"

10. Noun. Flying downward in a helical path with a large radius.

Definition of Spiral

1. a. Winding or circling round a center or pole and gradually receding from it; as, the spiral curve of a watch spring.

2. n. A plane curve, not reëntrant, described by a point, called the generatrix, moving along a straight line according to a mathematical law, while the line is revolving about a fixed point called the pole. Cf. Helix.

Definition of Spiral

1. Noun. (geometry) A curve that is the locus of a point that rotates about a fixed point while continuously increasing its distance from that point. ¹

2. Noun. (informal) A helix. ¹

3. Adjective. Helical, like a spiral ¹

4. Verb. (intransitive) To move along the path of a spiral or helix. ¹

5. Verb. (figuratively intransitive) To increase continually. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Spiral

1. to move like a spiral (a type of plane curve) [v -RALED, -RALING, -RALS or -RALLED, -RALLING, -RALS]

Medical Definition of Spiral

1. Of leaves or floral organs, borne at different levels on the main stem, in an ascending spiral. Compare: cyclic. (09 Oct 1997)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Spiral

spinyhead spiodea spionkopite spiperone spir- spirable spiracle spiracles spiracular spiradenitis

spiradenoma spiraea spiraeas spiraeic spiraeic acid spiral (current term) spiral CT spiral and curved bacteria spiral arm spiral arms

spiral bandage spiral bulbar septum spiral canal of cochlea spiral canal of modiolus spiral cleavage spiral cochlear ganglion spiral computed tomography spiral crest spiral dance

Literary usage of Spiral

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

1. Machine Tool Operation by Henry D. Burghardt (1922)
"counterbore (cutter head about 1 in. long) cut with a spiral flute is 10 inches. Setting up the machine for milling a spiral involves a knowledge of several ..."

2. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann, Edward Aloysius Pace, Condé Bénoist Pallen, Thomas Joseph Shahan, John Joseph Wynne (1913)
"Classifying them into diffused, spiral, and planetary nebulae, Herschel considered them as so many simultaneous exponents of gradual cosmic evolution, ..."

3. United States Supreme Court Reports by Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, United States Supreme Court (1890)
""What 1 claim as my invention is— terial having tubes, spiral metal springs inclosed by such tubes and not extending to the edges of the covering material, ..."

4. Journal of Morphology by Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology (1897)
"This form of cleavage is not only very rare, but when found it is exceedingly evanescent and very soon gives way to spiral cleavages. ..."

5. Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Standard Work of Reference in Art, Literature (1907)
"Test of relatively large size ; lenticular, spherical, or fusiform ; constructed either on a spiral plan or in concentric layers, the chamber cavities ..."

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