apsis

Noun
Synonyms: apse

Open English WordNet

Noun (1)apsides

  1. a domed or vaulted recess or projection on a building especially the east end of a church; usually contains the altarSynonyms: apseType of recess, nicheKinds tribunePart of church, church building
Word of the day · Nov 15About this word
aberrationnoun

a state or condition markedly different from the norm

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Ap′sis (ăp′sĭs), noun; pl. Apsides (ăp′wb-a1′>′sĭ·dēz). See Apse.

Origin: L. apsis, absis, Gr. ἁψίς, ἁψῖδος, a tying, fastening, the hoop of a wheel, the wheel, a bow, arch, vault, fr. ἅπτειν to fasten.

1. Astronomy One of the two points of an orbit, as of a planet or satellite, which are at the greatest and least distance from the central body, corresponding to the aphelion and perihelion of a planet, or to the apogee and perigee of the moon. The more distant is called the higher apsis; the other, the lower apsis; and the line joining them, the line of apsides.

2. Mathematics In a curve referred to polar coördinates, any point for which the radius vector is a maximum or minimum.

3. Architecture Same as Apse.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

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