Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The astronomical system of Ptolemy, in which the earth is at the center of the universe with the sun, moon, planets, and stars revolving about it in circular orbits at increasing distance. Some of the orbits have epicycles.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun astronomy A
geocentric model of thesolar system , described by theeponymous astronomer.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (astronomy) Ptolemy's model of the universe with the Earth at the center
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Ptolemy ("a surname") + -ic + system. After Greek-Roman astronomer Claudius Ptolemy (c. 90 - c. 168 AD), who explained the theory in an influential work.
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