Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A point or pointed end.
- n. Anatomy A pointed or rounded projection on the chewing surface of a tooth.
- n. Anatomy A triangular fold or flap of a heart valve.
- n. Mathematics A point at which a curve crosses itself and at which the two tangents to the curve coincide.
- n. Architecture The point of intersection of two ornamental arcs or curves, such as the inner points of a trefoil.
- n. Astronomy Either point of a crescent moon.
- n. A transitional point or time, as between two astrological signs.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In astronomy, the point or horn of a crescent, specifically of the crescent moon.
- n. In astrology, the beginning or first entrance of any house in the calculation of nativities.
- n. In geometry, a stationary point on a curve, where a point describing the curve has its motion precisely reversed.
- n. In architecture, an intersecting point of the small arcs or foliations decorating the internal curves of the trefoils, cinquefoils, etc., of medieval tracery; also, the figure formed by the intersection of such arcs.
- n. In zoöl. and anatomy:
- n. Any special prominence or protuberance of the crown of a tooth. A blunt conical cusp is called a tubercle; a sharp sectorial cusp is a blade; a low or lateral cusp is a heel. Teeth are sometimes named from the number of their cusps, as bicuspid, tricuspid. A canine tooth, the crown of which consists of a single cusp, is cuspidate.
- n. A sharp tooth-like process on a margin or part.
- n. In botany, a sharp and rigid point, as of a leaf.
- n. One of the segments, with pointed tip, of a valve of the heart.
Wiktionary
- n. A sharp point or pointed end.
- n. figuratively An important moment when a decision is made that will determine future events.
- n. geometry A point of a curve where the curve is continuous but has no derivative, but such that it has a derivative at every nearby point.
- n. astrology A boundary between zodiacal signs and houses.
- n. dentistry Any of the pointed parts of a canine tooth or molar.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Arch.) A triangular protection from the intrados of an arch, or from an inner curve of tracery.
- n. (Astrol.) The beginning or first entrance of any house in the calculations of nativities, etc.
- n. (Astron) The point or horn of the crescent moon or other crescent-shaped luminary.
- n. (Math.) A multiple point of a curve at which two or more branches of the curve have a common tangent.
- n. (Anat.) A prominence or point, especially on the crown of a tooth.
- n. (Bot.) A sharp and rigid point.
- v. To furnish with a cusp or cusps.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a thin triangular flap of a heart valve
- n. small elevation on the grinding surface of a tooth
- n. point formed by two intersecting arcs (as from the intrados of a Gothic arch)
Etymologies
- From Latin cuspis ("a point, spear, pointed end"); first used in astrology. (Wiktionary)
- Latin cuspis, point. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Not only are social mores (particularly regarding the role of women) depicted in striking detail, but the portrayal of a city on a technological cusp is given as well.”
“Again: if you think of the tracery in its _bars_, you call the cusp a redent; but if you think of it in the _openings_, you call the apertures of it foils.”
“The extremity of the cusp is a mere ball of Istrian marble; and consider how subtle the faculty of sight must be, since it recognizes at any distance, and is gratified by, the mystery of the termination of cusp obtained by the gradated light on the ball.”
“Mubarak's sudden, Thursday-to-Friday transition from rigidity to capitulation is what Lustick describes as a cusp catastrophe.”
“I like the way things are working out and while I'm not a huge fan of Andre Dawson (Tim Raines anyone), the fact that Bert Blyleven is on the cusp is a good thing.”
“Hence, we are now at a "cusp" because ONLY if millions of us transcend our conditioning can we destroy The Beast. ”
The straight-jackets of humanity are socially conditioned and absolutized institutions.
“What you discribe might be a talon cusp which is part of the back of the tooth kind of a bump sticking out and can interfere with the "bite".”
“From now on, I am pushing back my birth-date by twenty days to August 10th, which will bring me right into the middle of the Leo month and none of this 'cusp' crap either.”
“His will to spend his wealth is insufficient for the Suns’ needs, and it’s especially apparent in the Suns’ case because they’re right on the cusp, which is why I spend time thinking about how they could win a title even though I don’t like them very much.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cusp’.
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important
shamanism, consol, sanguine, iffy, affinity, concatenation, honed, innumberable, aiden, inexorable, vet, suss and 176 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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Thresholds
we are all just passing through.
(boundaries, portals and liminal spaces/times)cockcrow, interface, thin line, portal, postern, littoral, portico, porch, stoop, strand, liminal, limen and 304 more...
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It's All Just Words.
quixotic, penisaurus rex, plibt, pot, polaroid, gemütlichkeit, hey! pooper scoop..., nowhere, anywhere, somewhere, elsewhere, wherever and 80 more...
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To a point
to the point
dot, betoken, cusp, nib, neb, nadir, bespeak, eutectic, punctilio, fulcrum, stretch a point, make a point and 69 more...
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verge
Century Dictionary
n. A rod, or something in the form of a rod or staff, carried as an emblem of authority or ensign of office; the mace of a bishop, dean, or other functionary.
brink, brim, zapatera, potance, cusp, edge, precipice, threshold, marge, viaticum, presque vu, selvage and 4 more...
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Words For Novel
viridity, effigy, paragon, congested, acrid, lilting, clandestine, plethora, accolade, sardonic, naïve, reckoning and 285 more...
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Verba Dilecta
delectable, notate, pauciloquy, paucity, pauciloquent, paucify, interscapilium, uropygium, inferna, nota, equipollent, prepollent and 677 more...
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kalidas's Words
crepuscular, mellifluous, ephemeral, diaphanous, zeitgeist, geisterfahrer, infinite, eternal, idyllic, azure, reminiscent, oblivion and 521 more...
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Life is just a four-letter word
Everyone's got their favorites. Here are some of mine.
snit, hobo, minx, kiln, loll, pelf, yegg, ugly, bumf, brio, biro, haha and 92 more...
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words found to be generally pleasing
alabaster, mahogany, camphor, coalesce, spire, portmanteau, gadabout, palaver, dolor, dour, dun, luminesce and 610 more...
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beatricks's Words
tremendous, naiad, thrush, samsara, thronging, nascent, broom, aristeia, streak, susurrant, reverberate, resistentialism and 352 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (C)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
cacophony, cad, cajole, calamity, camomile, camphor, candlemas, candy apple, canopy, canticle, caparison, caravan and 304 more...
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Castles and Keeps
Shamelessly ripped off from this site and others (to be named hereinafter). (Fair warning: for my own edification, I may add definitions/comments from the site, but you might want to just go there ...
abutment, adulterine, allure, angle-spur, apse, arbalest, arbalestier, arbalist, arcade, arch, armoury, arrow slit and 410 more...
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Reading Reading
Words from the works of Peter Reading - at least one from each (except the Schwitters-esque erosions, cut-ups etc).
overbright, pimpled, muskiness, effuse, stoup, maul, unlevel, viscid, perfidious, glibly, aloes, drouth and 449 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cusp.

chained_bear In castle architecture, a projecting point usually in the upper portion of a tracery window and often seen in ogee-headed windows.
I rather like the phrase ogee-headed windows. Aug 24, 2008
yarb Citation on splodge. Jun 29, 2008
pterodactyl Excellent find, whichbe! I've added it to my list. May 11, 2008
mollusque Urban dictionary lists wusp, slang for "what's up". Other than that, how about ossicusp? May 11, 2008
whichbe Find a rhyme for this word. May 11, 2008