Radius
['reɪdɪəs] or ['redɪəs]
Definition
(noun.) the length of a line segment between the center and circumference of a circle or sphere.
(noun.) the outer and slightly shorter of the two bones of the human forearm.
(noun.) a circular region whose area is indicated by the length of its radius; 'they located it within a radius of 2 miles'.
(noun.) a straight line from the center to the perimeter of a circle (or from the center to the surface of a sphere).
Checked by Bonnie--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A right line drawn or extending from the center of a circle to the periphery; the semidiameter of a circle or sphere.
(n.) The preaxial bone of the forearm, or brachium, corresponding to the tibia of the hind limb. See Illust. of Artiodactyla.
(n.) A ray, or outer floret, of the capitulum of such plants as the sunflower and the daisy. See Ray, 2.
(n.) The barbs of a perfect feather.
(n.) Radiating organs, or color-markings, of the radiates.
(n.) The movable limb of a sextant or other angular instrument.
Edited by Julia
Definition
n. (geom.) a straight line from the centre to the circumference of a circle: anything like a radius as the spoke of a wheel: a ray: (anat.) the exterior bone of the arm: (bot.) the ray of a flower: the movable arm of a sextant: one of the radiating lines of a geometrical spider's web:—pl. Rā′dii (ī).—ns. Rā′dius-bar -rod in a steam-engine a rod pivoted at one end and connected at the other with a concentrically moving part at a fixed distance.—Radius vector (pl. Radii vectores) the distance from a fixed origin to any point of a curve.
Checked by Balder
Examples
- It consisted of a graduated arc of soli d polished brass five inches broad, two inches thick, and with a radius of about six and three quarters feet. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Dairymen collect milk over a radius of thirty or forty miles and get it to market fresh. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- For example, the sid e of a hexagon inscribed in a circle is equal to the radius, and is the chord of 60°, or of the sixth part of the circle. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- He wrote to Leverrier in reference to the errors of the radius vector and received a satisfactory and sufficiently compliant reply. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- At one point the grade dropped some sixty feet in a distance of three hundred, and the curves were of recklessly short radius. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- I have also examined every stable and out-house in Tavistock, and for a radius of ten miles. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- The radius is divided into sixty equal parts, and these again divided and subdivided sexage simally. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- He approximated more closely than the Egyptians the solution of the problem of the relation between the area of a circle and the radius. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- That circle is drawn at a radius of ten miles from the village. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- The aviator who goes up to a level a mile above the sea is able to see everything within a radius of ninety-six miles and the further up he goes the larger the earth’s circle becomes to him. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- That motor trucks not only furnish cheaper transportation than horse-drawn vehicles, but greatly extend the radius of operation, is quite generally conceded. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The track curved sharply at either end on a radius of fifty-six feet, and the length was about one-third of a mile. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Experiment demonstrates that a weight _W_ attached to a cogwheel of radius 3 can be raised by a force _P_, equal to one third of _W_ applied to a cogwheel of radius 1. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- We started the locomotive with nobody on it, and got up to twenty miles an hour, taking those curves of very short radius; but it was weeks before we could prevent it from running off. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- That gives a radius of ten or twelve miles, and he does it once, or sometimes twice, a day. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- For example, in a wheel and axle of radii 20 and 4, respectively, a given weight at _P_ would balance 5 times as great a load at _W_. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
Editor: Rosalie