parabola

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“
A similar difficulty takes place in figuring specula for telescopes; the parabola is the surface which separates the hyperbolic from the elliptic figure, and is the most difficult to form.

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Definitions (24)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone or by the locus of points equidistant from a fixed line and a fixed point not on the line.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (21)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • We had a press conference, we announced our intent to do one zero G parabola -- give him 25 seconds of zero G. —  Peter Diamandis on Stephen Hawking in zero g
  • And after that first parabola, you know, the doc said everything is great, he was smiling, and we said go. —  Peter Diamandis on Stephen Hawking in zero g
  • The nettles and brambles hissed and clattered in the dribbles of a low parabola, as (his bladder no longer furnishing the torrents of youth) he waited for nature to take its protracted course. —  F ;SF - vol 088 issue 05 - May 1995
  • Calculus Jump too close And the parabola will be still ascending Feet below the surface Where their tangent Should be level Landing without lift or fall. —  Asimov'sSF,August2008
  • Jump too far, And the parabola will be descending Feet below the surface. —  Asimov'sSF,August2008
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. New Latin, from Greek parabolē, comparison, application, parabola (from the relationship between the line joining the vertices of a conic and the line through its focus and parallel to its directrix), from paraballein, to compare; see parable.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French parabole = Spanish Parábola = Portuguese Italian parabola, from New Latin parabola, a parabola, from Greek παραβολή,a parabola (see def.), so called by Apollonius of Perga, literally ‘superposition,’ from παραβάλλειν, throw beside, compare: see parable.
 

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/pæˈræbələ/
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