Crossword clues for surd
surd
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Surd \Surd\, n. (Math.)
A quantity which can not be expressed by rational numbers; thus, [root]2 is a surd.
(Phon.) A surd element of speech. See Surd, a., 4.
Surd \Surd\, a. [L. surdus deaf (whence the meaning, deaf to reason, irrational), perhaps akin to E. swart. Cf. Sordine.]
Net having the sense of hearing; deaf. [Obs.] ``A surd . . . generation.''
--Sir T. Browne.Unheard. [Obs.]
--Kenrick.(Math.) Involving surds; not capable of being expressed in rational numbers; radical; irrational; as, a surd expression or quantity; a surd number.
(Phonetics) Uttered, as an element of speech, without tone, or proper vocal sound; voiceless; unintonated; nonvocal; atonic; whispered; aspirated; sharp; hard, as f, p, s, etc.; -- opposed to sonant. See Guide to Pronunciation, [sect][sect]169, 179, 180.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1550s, "irrational" (of numbers), from Latin surdus "deaf, unheard, silent, dull; willfully deaf, inattentive," possibly related to susurrus "a muttering, whispering" (see susurration). The mathematical sense is from the use of Latin surdus to translate Arabic (jadhr) asamm "deaf (root)," itself apparently a loan-translation of Greek alogos, literally "speechless, without reason" (Euclid book x, Def.). In French, sourd remains the principal word for "deaf." As a noun from 1540s. Related: Surdity.
Wiktionary
a. 1 (context obsolete English) Lacking the sense of hearing; deaf. 2 (context obsolete English) unheard 3 (context math English) Involving surds, or irrational numbers; not capable of being expressed in rational numbers. 4 (context phonetics English) unvoiced; voiceless n. 1 (context arithmetic English) An irrational number, especially one expressed using the √ symbol. 2 (context linguistics English) A voiceless consonant.
WordNet
adj. of speech sounds [syn: voiceless, unvoiced] [ant: sonant]
n. a consonant produced without sound from the vocal cords [syn: voiceless consonant]
Wikipedia
Surd may refer to:
- Surd, Hungary
- Voiceless consonant
- Jeremiah Surd, a character on the television series The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
Usage examples of "surd".
Howie Surd had come along and solicitously offered a shot of something murky in an unlabeled bottle.
And so saying inverted the white hat in the direction of Hiroshima and Howie Surd, showering them both with cooked hamburger.
Howie Surd the drunken yeoman lay on his stomach under mount 52, head propped on arms, staring at a British landing craft that chugged its way through the rainy Harbour.
To be sure, impressions passed unsummoned through his mind, but they were, for the greater part, surd images lacking the linear logic of worded thought.
So beautiful, to ride in the woods of the Surd now, and onto the park at Blue Fountain, that would be heavenly.
He seemed to live in some high abstract region of surds and conic sections, with little to connect him with ordinary life.
I fear that I am excluded not only from the joy of prime numbers and surds but from the mathematics as a whole.
This coy surd is insensible to the fascinations of the deftest Dedekindian Cult.
Howie Surd the drunken yeoman, who had two grooves worn bare in the hair of his leg from adhesive-taping pints of various booze under one bellbottom by way of providing the crew with something tastier than torpedo juice, had almost made it the two steps from quarterdeck to ship's office when Knoop like a Siamese boxer fetched him an agile kick in the calf.