| 释义 |
ellipsoid|ɛˈlɪpsɔɪd|
[f. ellipse + -oid.]
A. n.
1. A solid of which all the plane sections through one of the axes are ellipses, and all other sections ellipses or circles. Formerly in narrower sense: A solid generated by the revolution of an ellipse round one of its axes; now called ellipsoid of revolution.
a1721J. Keill tr. Maupertuis' Diss. (1734) 7 The Earth must be an Ellipsoid whose Equatorial Diameter is to its Axis as √289 to √288. 1787Phil. Trans. LXXVII 202 Ellipsoids of different degrees of oblateness. 1831Brewster Optics vi. 55 A meniscus whose convex surface is part of an ellipsoid. 1871B. Stewart Heat §281 The isothermal surfaces are ellipsoids. 1879C. Niven (title) On the Conduction of Heat in Ellipsoids of Revolution.
2. ? A figure approximately elliptical.
1837Whewell Hist. Induc. Sc. (1857) II. 59 An eccentric ellipsoid; that is a figure resembling an ellipse.
B. adj. = next.
1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. vi. i. 313 The eggs..are ellipsoid or oval. 1870Hooker Stud. Flora 142 Styles erect or spreading, pollen ellipsoid. |