Crossword clues for gnomon
gnomon
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gnomon \Gno"mon\, n. [L. gnomon, Gr. ? one that knows, the index of a sundial. See Gnome.]
(Dialing) The style or pin, which by its shadow, shows the hour of the day. It is usually set parallel to the earth's axis.
(Astron.) A style or column erected perpendicularly to the horizon, formerly used in astronomocal observations. Its principal use was to find the altitude of the sun by measuring the length of its shadow.
(Geom.) The space included between the boundary lines of two similar parallelograms, the one within the other, with an angle in common; as, the gnomon bcdefg of the parallelograms ac and af. The parallelogram bf is the complement of the parallelogram df.
The index of the hour circle of a globe.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"vertical shaft that tells time by the shadow it casts" (especially the triangular plate on a sundial), 1540s, from Latin gnomon, from Greek gnomon "indicator," literally "one who discerns," from gignoskein "to come to know" (see gnostic (adj.)).
Wiktionary
n. 1 The pointer on a sundial. 2 (context geometry English) A plane figure formed by removing a parallelogram from a corner of a larger parallelogram.
WordNet
n. indicator provided by the stationary arm whose shadow indicates the time on the sundial
Wikipedia
In geometry, a gnomon is a plane figure formed by removing a similar parallelogram from a corner of a larger parallelogram; or, more generally, a figure that, added to a given figure, makes a larger figure of the same shape.
A gnomon is the part of a sundial that casts the shadow.
Gnomon may also refer to:
- Gnomon (figure), in geometry, a plane figure formed by removing a similar parallelogram from a corner of a larger parallelogram
- Gnomon, the difference between a pair of consecutive figurate numbers
- Gnomon (journal), a German language academic journal of classics
- Gnomon, one of the twenty-five fictional islands in the fantasy book series The Books of Abarat
- Gnomon School of Visual Effects, a Hollywood-based university that offers artistic and technical training for careers in the visual effects and games industries.
Gnomon. Kritische Zeitschrift für die gesamte klassische Altertumswissenschaft (Gnomon: Critical Journal of the Entire Field of Scholarship on Classical Antiquity) is a German review journal covering the classics. It was established in 1925, first published by Verlag Weidmann and since 1949 by Verlag C. H. Beck. The journal appears in 8 issues each year and contains reviews, obituaries, and notices. Since 1950, odd-numbered volumes contain a "Bibliographic Supplement" of new books, dissertations and submitted journal articles, in addition to the regular contents. The editors-in-chief are Hans-Joachim Gehrke, Martin Hose, Henner von Hesberg, Ernst Vogt, and Paul Zanker.
Usage examples of "gnomon".
Shadows cast by innumerable stone towers combed the dark blue water, all pointing in the same transitory direction, as if the stony pinnacles were gnomons to a half-thousand igneous sundials, tracking in unison the serene march of hours, of aeons.
He named stars of the wild goat, or Capricorn, those where the sun, having reached the highest point in his annuary tract, rests at the summit of the horary gnomon, and imitates the goat, who delights to climb the summit of the rocks.
Newton was constructing a sundial on a south-facing wall, using, as gnomon, a slender rod with a ball on the end.