sphere

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search
See also sphère

Contents

[edit] English

Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia

[edit] Alternative forms

[edit] Etymology

From Old French sphere, from Late Latin sphēra, earlier Latin sphaera (“ball, globe, celestial sphere”), from Ancient Greek σφαῖρα (“ball, globe”), of unknown origin.

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

sphere (plural spheres)

  1. (mathematics) A regular three-dimensional object in which every cross-section is a circle; the figure described by the revolution of a circle about its diameter [from 14th c.].
  2. A spherical physical object; a globe or ball. [from 14th c.]
    • 2011, Piers Sellers, The Guardian, 6 Jul 2011:
      So your orientation changes a little bit but it sinks in that the world is a sphere, and you're going around it, sometimes under it, sideways, or over it.
  3. (astronomy, now rare) The apparent outer limit of space; the edge of the heavens, imagined as a hollow globe within which celestial bodies appear to be embedded. [from 14th c.]
    • 1635, John Donne, "His parting form her":
      Though cold and darkness longer hang somewhere, / Yet Phoebus equally lights all the Sphere.
  4. (historical, astronomy, mythology) Any of the concentric hollow transparent globes formerly believed to rotate around the Earth, and which carried the heavenly bodies; there were originally believed to be eight, and later nine and ten; friction between them was thought to cause a harmonious sound (the music of the spheres). [from 14th c.]
    • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, vol. 1 p. 153:
      It is more simplicitie to teach our children [...] [t]he knowledge of the starres, and the motion of the eighth spheare, before their owne.
    • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.6:
      They understood not the motion of the eighth sphear from West to East, and so conceived the longitude of the Stars invariable.
  5. (mythology) An area of activity for a planet; or by extension, an area of influence for a god, hero etc. [from 14th c.]
  6. (figuratively) The region in which something or someone is active; one's province, domain. [from 17th c.]
    • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.20:
      They thought – originally on grounds derived from religion – that each thing or person had its or his proper sphere, to overstep which is ‘unjust’.
  7. (geometry) The set of all points in three-dimensional Euclidean space (or n.-dimensional space, in topology) that are a fixed distance from a fixed point [from 20th c.].

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Related terms

[edit] Translations

mathematics: regular three-dimensional object
spherical physical object
astronomy: apparent outer limit of space — see celestial sphere
historical, astronomy, mythology: any of the concentric globes formerly believed to rotate around the Earth
area of activity for a planet, god or hero
region in which something or someone is active
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] See also

[edit] Anagrams

[edit] Middle French

[edit] Alternative forms

[edit] Noun

sphere m. (plural spheres)

  1. sphere (shape)

[edit] Descendants

[edit] Old French

[edit] Alternative forms

[edit] Noun

sphere m. (oblique plural spheres, nominative singular spheres, nominative plural sphere)

  1. sphere (shape)

[edit] Descendants

[edit] References

Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=sphere&oldid=15416749"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Views
Actions
Navigation
Toolbox
In other languages