The Collaborative International Dictionary
Vertical \Ver"ti*cal\, a. [Cf. F. vertical. See Vertex.]
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Of or pertaining to the vertex; situated at the vertex, or highest point; directly overhead, or in the zenith; perpendicularly above one.
Charity . . . is the vertical top of all religion.
--Jer. Taylor. -
Perpendicular to the plane of the horizon; upright; plumb; as, a vertical line. Vertical angle (Astron. & Geod.), an angle measured on a vertical circle, called an angle of elevation, or altitude, when reckoned from the horizon upward, and of depression when downward below the horizon. Vertical anthers (Bot.), such anthers as stand erect at the top of the filaments. Vertical circle (Astron.), an azimuth circle. See under Azimuth. Vertical drill, an drill. See under Upright. Vertical fire (Mil.), the fire, as of mortars, at high angles of elevation. Vertical leaves (Bot.), leaves which present their edges to the earth and the sky, and their faces to the horizon, as in the Australian species of Eucalyptus. Vertical limb, a graduated arc attached to an instrument, as a theodolite, for measuring vertical angles. Vertical line.
(Dialing) A line perpendicular to the horizon.
(Conic Sections) A right line drawn on the vertical plane, and passing through the vertex of the cone.
(Surv.) The direction of a plumb line; a line normal to the surface of still water.
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(Geom., Drawing, etc.) A line parallel to the sides of a page or sheet, in distinction from a horizontal line parallel to the top or bottom. Vertical plane.
(Conic Sections) A plane passing through the vertex of a cone, and through its axis.
(Projections) Any plane which passes through a vertical line.
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(Persp.) The plane passing through the point of sight, and perpendicular to the ground plane, and also to the picture.
Vertical sash, a sash sliding up and down. Cf. French sash, under 3d Sash.
Vertical steam engine, a steam engine having the crank shaft vertically above or below a vertical cylinder.
Usage examples of "vertical line".
The grid's crosshatched shadows, which twisted and jumped each time I shifted my light, made my inspection difficult, but I saw that the vertical length of pipe went down about six feet, where the drain split into two opposing horizontal pipelines, each only slightly smaller than the vertical line that fed them.
Suddenly he straightened off the wall, the contracting muscles of his eyebrows etching a deep, vertical line on his forehead.
The arms never go, however, beyond the vertical line that separates the two bodies.
Back in Sheffield he stalked the rim concourse, staring out at the thin vertical line of the elevator, ignoring other people and forcing some of them to jump out of his way as he paced.
Svetz was able to make out a vertical line, almost invisible against the black sky, motionless and infinitely distant.
But ten feet to Mallory's right, a vertical line of darkness broke the steps: a line perhaps two feet wide that was not a line, but a crevasse.
A vertical line of silver appeared against one wall and widened into a view of snow-covered oaks.
Despite the helmet's active shock cushioning, his vision shrank momentarily to a bright vertical line.
Swaths of navy-blue sky showed through blowing broken clouds, and a sudden narrow vertical line of blue-white dashes.
Then a short vertical line appeared suddenly: twelve hundred light years long, pointing up from the plane of the galactic disk, vanishing after just one frame.
In place of the light suit he wore battledress, but it was the same face - the face of Lane's photographs, lined and leathery, dark-tanned by the Mediterranean sun, and that scar running in a vertical line down the crease of the forehead to the nose.