The Collaborative International Dictionary
Vinculum \Vin"cu*lum\, n.; pl. L. Vincula, E. Vinculums.
A bond of union; a tie.
(Math.) A straight, horizontal mark placed over two or more members of a compound quantity, which are to be subjected to the same operation, as in the expression x^ 2 + y^ 2 - vinc x + y.
(Anat.) A band or bundle of fibers; a fr[ae]num.
(Zo["o]l.) A commissure uniting the two main tendons in the foot of certain birds.
Wiktionary
n. (plural of vinculum English)
WordNet
See vinculum
Usage examples of "vincula".
Although regarded as a conservative—as well as something of a reactionary—by the Vincula, she had finally embraced some of the new architecture spreading through the Frame.
She had even argued on their behalf before the Vincula, back when there had been a chance of reconciliation.
The Vincula had posted the repeated stretches across the system in the hope that someone would crack it.
Everyone else in the Vincula or the Gezim went about life as always, so full of richness and complexity that looking elsewhere for wonder was as ridiculous as begging for more freedom with which to enjoy it.
Ordinarily, the security provided by the Vincula for its Urges would be sufficient to keep any intrusion at bay.
Getting top-strata information out of the Vincula wasn’t easy, and security was tough if caught in midattack.
While there was still a chance the breach could be sealed, the Vincula fought back with all the violence and temerity of antibodies attacking a virus.
They might lump themselves in with the Vincula or the Gezim or go it alone as Hatzis and Sulich preferred, but in the end, all those who had survived the Spike were following their own muse.
Still, the great irony—that the Vincula was humanity’s greatest achievement as much as it threatened to become its ultimate downfall—haunted Hatzis in all her povs.
The sad thing was that most people wouldn’t genuinely care if she had cracked Shalhoub’s remote, or even if the Vincula had a thousand secrets they were keeping from the rest of humanity.
What could the Vincula do if anything massive, traveling at relativistic speeds, were to strike the Frame?
The original Caryl Hatzis was under no illusion that to the Vincula as a whole, their work constituted little more than a nuisance.
And the Vincula would very much like to know what it is we’re dealing with before we respond.
She didn’t particularly care if the Vincula even shot him out of the sky, except she would never know, then, where he had come by his ship.
It is the Vincula behind the Shell Proper, for instance, using the solar wind and in-falling matter instead of whole planets.