corona

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Astronomy A faintly colored luminous ring appearing to surround a celestial body visible through a haze or thin cloud, especially such a ring around the moon or sun, caused by diffraction of light from suspended matter in the intervening medium. Also called aureole.
2. n. Astronomy The luminous irregular envelope of highly ionized gas outside the chromosphere of the sun.
3. n. Architecture The projecting top part of a cornice.
4. n. A cigar with a long tapering body and blunt ends.
5. n. Anatomy The crownlike upper portion of a bodily part or structure, such as the top of the head.
6. n. Botany A crown-shaped, funnel-shaped, or trumpet-shaped outgrowth or appendage of the perianth of certain flowers, such as the daffodil or the spider lily. Also called crown.
7. n. Electricity A faint glow enveloping the high-field electrode in a corona discharge, often accompanied by streamers directed toward the low-field electrode.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A crown.
2. n. Specifically Among the Romans, a crown or garland bestowed as a reward for distinguished military service. The coronæ were of various kinds, as the corona civica, of oak-leaves, bestowed on one who had saved the life of a citizen; the corona vallaris or castrensis, of gold, bestowed on him who first mounted the rampart or entered the camp of the enemy; the corona muralis, given to one who first scaled the walls of a city; the corona navalis, to him who first boarded the ship of an enemy; and the corona obsidionalis, given to one who freed an army from a blockade, and made of grass growing on the spot.
3. n. In architecture, a member of a cornice situated between the bed-molding and the cymatium. It consists of a broad vertical face, usually of considerable projection. Its soffit is generally recessed upward to facilitate the fall of rain from its face, thus sheltering the wall below. Among workmen it is called the drip; the French call it larmier, and this term is often used by English writers. See column.
4. n. [LL.] Eccles., the horizontal stripe running around a miter at the lower edge, surrounding the head of the wearer. See miter.
5. n. [NL.] In zoology and anatomy:
6. n. The crown of the head.
7. n. The crown of a tooth; the body of a tooth beyond the cingulum.
8. n. Some part or organ likened to a crown.
9. n. In echinoderms, the body-wall of an echinus, exclusive of the peristome and of the periproct.
10. n. In ornithology, the top of the head; the cap or pileum.
11. n. The trochal disk of a rotifer.
12. n. In sponges, specifically, an irregular spicule, in the form of ring, bearing rays or spines.
13. n. [NL.] In botany: A crown-like appendage on the inner side of a corolla, as in plants of the genus Silene, and in the passionflower, comfrey, and daffodil.
14. n. A crown-like appendage at the summit of an organ, as the pappus on the seed of a dandelion.
15. n. The ray or circle of ligulate florets surrounding the disk in a composite flower.
16. n. A halo; specifically, in astronomy, a halo or luminous circle around one of the heavenly bodies; especially, the portion of the aureola observed during total eclipses of the sun which lies outside the chromosphere, or region of colored prominences.
17. n. A peculiar phase of the aurora borealis, formed by the concentration or convergence of luminous beams around the point in the heavens indicated by the direction of the dipping needle.
18. n. Same as corona lucis (which see, below).
19. n. In music, an old name for fermata.
20. n. the Southern Crown, an ancient southern constellation about the knee of Sagittarius, represented by a garland.
21. n. an ancient northern constellation between Hercules and Boötes, represented by a garland with two streamers.
22. n. (literally, a crown of light), a chandelier or luster having the lights arranged in a circle, or in several circles whose centers come upon the same vertical axis, suspended from the roof or vaulting of a church and lighted on ceremonial occasions. In the larger and richer examples, however, the general disposition only is circular, this form being broken by lobes, cusps, and the like, along which the lights are arranged. The bounding line is usually marked by a broad band of metal, ornamented with repoussé work, enamel, etc., and having sacred texts inscribed upon it; to this band the separate candlesticks are attached. Also called corona.
23. n. In zoology, the upper, branched portion of a crinoid, as distinguised from the stem or columna.
24. n. See the extract.
25. n. A cucullus or hood.
26. n. The ring of primary wood in the medullary sheath.
27. n. Same as aurora, 5.
28. n. A phenomenon seen when an artificial cloud is viewed by transmitted light; an artificial halo.

Wiktionary

1. n. A crown or garland bestowed among the Romans as a reward for distinguished services.
2. n. astronomy The luminous plasma atmosphere of the Sun or other star, extending millions of kilometres into space, most easily seen during a total solar eclipse,
3. n. biology Any crown-like appendage of a plant or animal.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A crown or garland bestowed among the Romans as a reward for distinguished services.
2. n. (Arch.) The projecting part of a Classic cornice, the under side of which is cut with a recess or channel so as to form a drip. See Illust. of Column.
3. n. (Anat.) The upper surface of some part, as of a tooth or the skull; a crown.
4. n. (Zoöl.) The shelly skeleton of a sea urchin.
5. n. (Astronomy) A peculiar luminous appearance, or aureola, which surrounds the sun, and which is seen only when the sun is totally eclipsed by the moon.
6. n. An inner appendage to a petal or a corolla, often forming a special cup, as in the daffodil and jonquil.
7. n. Any crownlike appendage at the top of an organ.
8. n. A circle, usually colored, seen in peculiar states of the atmosphere around and close to a luminous body, as the sun or moon.
9. n. A peculiar phase of the aurora borealis, formed by the concentration or convergence of luminous beams around the point in the heavens indicated by the direction of the dipping needle.
10. n. A crown or circlet suspended from the roof or vaulting of churches, to hold tapers lighted on solemn occasions. It is sometimes formed of double or triple circlets, arranged pyramidically. Called also corona lucis.
11. n. (Mus.) A character [�] called the pause or hold.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the outermost region of the sun's atmosphere; visible as a white halo during a solar eclipse
2. n. (anatomy) any structure that resembles a crown in shape
3. n. one or more circles of light seen around a luminous object
4. n. a long cigar with blunt ends
5. n. (botany) the trumpet-shaped or cup-shaped outgrowth of the corolla of a daffodil or narcissus flower
6. n. an electrical discharge accompanied by ionization of surrounding atmosphere