gnomon

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Scholars have talked, indeed, of a Greek origin or of an Etruscan origin, and the technical term for the Roman surveying instrument, groma_, has been explained as the Greek word 'gnomon', borrowed through an Etruscan medium.

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Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun An object, such as the style of a sundial, that projects a shadow used as an indicator.
  2. noun The geometric figure that remains after a parallelogram has been removed from a similar but larger parallelogram with which it shares a corner.

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Examples (50)

  • Seen close to, the sun-dial revealed itself as a miscellany; the dial and gnomon were ancient; the base was a mill-stone; the column, when sharply tapped, sounded hollow. —  Busman’s Honeymoon
  • When you check out the images of the sundial on the Exploratorium's Website, take a close look at the shadow of the gnomon, the upright in the center of the sundial. —  FSFOct/Nov2004
  • After the Dutch had learned all they could from these "barbarians, who had greater skill in managing their bow than a nautical gnomon, and could give better information regarding their hunting than about the navigable water," they took their departure. —  The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II
  • In the happy days of confidence and truth, it sheds a halo round her existence;--in those of sorrow and desertion, memory, guided by its resistless power, like the gnomon of the dial, marks but those hours which were sunny and serene However, Mrs Rainscourt soon found out that an unlimited credit upon the banker was no bad substitute for a worthless husband; and, assisted by her pride, she enjoyed more real happiness and peace of mind than she had done for many years. —  The King's Own
  • The Spaniards have reconnoitred the beach, and their eyes have followed the rising landscape to where, beyond the forest-clad mountains, and emerging from the clouds which girt them, a single gleaming, snowy point appeared, piercing the blue heavens like the gnomon of a mighty dial. —  Mexico Its Ancient and Modern Civilisation, History, Political Conditions, Topography, Natural Resources, Industries and General Development
 

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin gnōmōn, from Greek, interpreter, pointer of a sundial, from gignōskein, to know; see gnō- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also gnowman, knowman (simulating know + man); = French gnomon = Spanish gnómon = Portuguese gnomon = Italian gnomone, from Latin gnomon, from Greek γνώμων, one that knows or examines, a judge, interpreter, a carpenters' square, the index of a sun-dial, a gnomon in geometry, etc., from γιγνώσκειν, γνῶναι, know: see gnome.
 

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/ˈnoʊmɑn/
by American Heritage

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