Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Geology A thin, leaflike layer or stratum occurring especially in metamorphic rock.
  • noun Mathematics A plane cubic curve having a single loop, a node, and two ends asymptotic to the same line.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A leaf; a lamina; a lamella; a layer.
  • noun In geometry, a loop, being a part of a curve terminated at both ends by the same node.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A leaf, esp. a thin leaf or plate.
  • noun (Geom.) A curve of the third order, consisting of two infinite branches, which have a common asymptote. The curve has a double point, and a leaf-shaped loop; whence the name. Its equation is x3 + y3 = axy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A leaf, especially a thin leaf or plate.
  • noun geometry A curve of the third order, consisting of two infinite branches having a common asymptote. The curve has a double point, and a leaf-shaped loop.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a thin layer or stratum of (especially metamorphic) rock

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin, leaf; see bhel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin, a leaf.

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