What is "fiducial"

Fiducial \Fi*du"cial\, a. [L. fiducia trust, confidence; akin to fides faith. See Faith.]

1. Having faith or trust; confident; undoubting; firm. ``Fiducial reliance on the promises of God.''
   --Hammond.

2. Having the nature of a trust; fiduciary; as, fiducial power.
   --Spelman.

   Fiducial edge (Astron. & Surv.), the straight edge of the alidade or ruler along which a straight line is to be drawn.

   Fiducial line or Fiducial point (Math. & Physics.), a line or point of reference, as for setting a graduated circle or scale used for measurments.

1570s, "assumed as a fixed basis for comparison," from Latin fiducialis "reliable," from fiducia "trust" (see faith). From 1620s as "pertaining to trust;" 1832 as "fiduciary."

a. 1 Accepted as a fixed basis of reference. 2 Based on having trust. n. In manufacturing, a small mark on a circuit board used to align components, a fiducial point.

1. adj. relating to or of the nature of a legal trust (i.e. the holding of something in trust for another); "a fiduciary contract"; "in a fiduciary capacity"; "fiducial power" [syn: fiduciary]

2. used as a fixed standard of reference for comparison or measurement; "a fiducial point"

3. based on trust

Fiducial may refer to:

• Fiduciary, in law, a person who holds a legal or ethical relationship of trust
• Fiducial inference, in statistics, a form of interval estimation
• "Fiducial line" or "fiducial edge" of an alidade, an instrument used to measure the angle to a distant object
• Fiducial marker or fiducial, an object or marking placed in an image for use as a point of reference
• Reference point (disambiguation), or origin of a frame of reference