hemisphere
/ˈhɛmɪsfɪə
/noun
1A half of a sphere.The sculpture consists of an elliptical loop of steel, attached to which are spheres and hemispheres fashioned from strips of steel....
- The code was validated by comparing the computed forces and torques with the analytic solutions for a hemisphere and sphere in point contact with the wall and also computations for axisymmetric spherical caps and spheroids.
- When set, gently remove from molds and form eight spheres by gently pressing two hemispheres together at their centers and rolling between hands.
1.1A half of the earth, usually as divided into northern and southern halves by the equator, or into western and eastern halves by an imaginary line passing through the poles.The direction follows the magnetic poles of the Earth between the Southern and Northern hemispheres....
- In both the northern and southern hemispheres aridity occurs at latitudes characterized by more or less permanent high pressure cells and hot dry subsiding air.
- Countries in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres continue to treat the world's rivers, seas and oceans as dumping grounds.
1.2A half of the celestial sphere.Generally, though we look to find at least 7 planets in any one hemisphere in order to take it into account in an analysis....
- The fundamental difference between the out-going, waxing hemisphere aspects and the incoming, waning hemisphere aspects can readily be seen if we think of the cycle of the seasons or of the lunation cycle or the daily cycle.
- It is pointed out that the State capital is ideally placed for sky-gazing, as it is close to the equator and the northern and southern hemispheres can be seen almost in their entirety.
1.3 (also cerebral hemisphere) Each of the two parts of the cerebrum (left and right) in the brain of a vertebrate: the left hemisphere plays a dominant role in the comprehension of language...
- The vertebrobasilar arteries supply the brain stem, cerebellum, and occipital lobes; the cerebral hemispheres are supplied through the carotid arteries.
- Sensory axons extend from the skin of the big toe to the base of the brain; and motor axons run from the motor cortex of the cerebral hemispheres right down to motor neurons at the bottom of the spinal cord.
- The left brain hemisphere posterior speech areas showed much greater activation for forward than backward speech.
Derivatives
hemispheric
/ adjective ...- While the hemispheric day of action only brought out around 60 people here in Vancouver, it was later reported that over 10,000 were out in the streets of Montréal and tens of thousands in Quito, Ecuador.
- Miami is approximately 1,000 kilometres north of centre, but has enormous advantages - it is already a hub for intra-hemispheric air travel, and plays a major part in hemispheric trade.
- Dave, you are one of those rare individuals who are perfectly ‘balanced’ in both your hemispheric tendencies and your sensory learning preferences.
hemispherical
/ adjective ...- The earliest Buddhist religious monument, a stupa is essentially made up of the following five constituents: square base; hemispherical dome; conical spire; crescent moon; and circular disc.
- As man and boy my breakfast has consisted of one Weetabix with a covering of Kellogg's Cornflakes with unrefined dark Cane sugar served in a hemispherical bowl with semi-skimmed milk and a heavy ‘Old English’ pattern spoon.
- The model will take over from the current iMac, which created a buzz when launched a few years ago with its minimalist design featuring a thin display perched on a stainless steel pole above a white hemispherical base.
hemispherically
- Engineers discovered the hemispherically shaped combustion chamber optimized volumetric efficiency and enabled an opposed valve layout.
- New norms are negotiated at the global level hemispherically in the Free Trade Area of the Americas rather than in North America, where there is no viable forum for deliberation and decision.
- In a global environment, labels that are so hemispherically driven are not accurate.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'half the celestial sphere, the sky'): from Old French emisphere, via Latin from Greek hēmisphairion, from hēmi- 'half' + sphaira 'sphere'.