spheric (sferik)

[= F. sphérique = Sp. esférico = Pg. espherico = It. sferico, Up the spheric circles, circle above circle. Mrs. Browning , Drama of Exile. Let any sculptor hew us out the most ravishing combination of tender curves and spheric softne that ever stood for woman. S. Lanier, The English Novel, p. 273. spherical (sfer'i-kal), a. [ spheric + -al .] 1. Bounded by or having the form of the surface of a sphere: as, a spherical body; a spherical surface; a spherical shell. We must know the reason of the spherical figures of the drops. Glanville. 2. Pertaining or relating to a sphere or spheres, or to sphericity: as, a spherical segment or section; spherical trigonometry.-31. Relating to the planets; planetary, in the astrological sense. We make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains by nece ity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance. Shak., Lear, i. 2. 134. Adjunct spherical function. See function. - Center of spherical curvature. See center1. - Concave spherical mirror. See mirror, 2. - Line of spherical curvature. See line2. - Spherical aberration. See aberration, 4.- Spherical angle. See angles. - Spherical bracketing, arch., an arrangement of brackets for the support of lath-and-plaster work forming a spherical surface. Spherical compa es, a kind of calipers for measuring globular bodies, variously constructed. Spherical complex, the aggregate of all the spheres in space fulfilling a single geometrical condition. Spherical congruence, the aggregate of all the spheres in space fulfilling two geometrical conditions. - Spherical conic section. See conic. - Spherical coördinates. See coördi nate. - Spherical curvature, epicycloid, exce , function, geometry. See the nouns. - Spherical cyclic, a curve which is the intersection of a sphere with a quadric surface. - Spherical group, the spherical complex determined by a linear equation between the coördinates and the power of the center of the variable circle. - Spherical harmonic. Same as Laplace's function (which see, under function). - Spherical indicatrix. See indicatrix. Spherical inversion. See geometrical inversion, under spherical inversion. - Spherical lune, the portion of the surface of a sphere included between two great circles. - Spherical nucleus. Same as nucleus globosus (which see, under nucleus). - Spherical pencil, a singly infinite continuous series of spheres determined like a spherical group, but by three equations. - Spherical polygon. See polygon. Spherical representation, a mode of continuous correspondence between the points of a surface and the points of a sphere, each radius of the sphere through the center representing the parallel normal of the surface. Any part of the sphere considered as thus representing a part of the surface is called its spherical image. - Spherical saw, a saw made in the form of a segment of a sphere, used for sawing out curvilinear work. See cut d'under sawl. Spherical See sclere and spheraster. Spheri cal-shot machine, a machine for finishing cannonballs by molding and pre ing to a true spherical form. E. Н. nouns. Knight. - Spherical surface-harmonic. See harmonic. -Spherical triangle, trigonometry, etc. See the sphericality (sfer-i-kal'i-ti), n. [ 5826 The spheroid in this condition does not touch the surface of the metal, but floats on a layer of its own vapor, and evaporates rapidly from its exposed surface. It is heated mainly by radiation from the hot surface, since the layer of intervening vapor conducts heat very feebly. The formation of a layer of non-conducting vapor explains why Sphindidæ + -ize.] To convert more or le completely into spherulites, or cause to a ume a spherulitic structure, wholly or in part. Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., XLV. 250.