Infinity

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Infinity \In*fin"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Infinities}. [L. infinitas;
     pref. in- not + finis boundary, limit, end: cf. F.
     infinit['e]. See {Finite}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. Unlimited extent of time, space, or quantity; eternity;
        boundlessness; immensity. --Sir T. More.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              There can not be more infinities than one; for one
              of them would limit the other.        --Sir W.
                                                    Raleigh.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Unlimited capacity, energy, excellence, or knowledge; as,
        the infinity of God and his perfections. --Hooker.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Endless or indefinite number; great multitude; as an
        infinity of beauties. --Broome.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Math.) A quantity greater than any assignable quantity of
        the same kind.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Mathematically considered, infinity is always a limit
           of a variable quantity, resulting from a particular
           supposition made upon the varying element which enters
           it. --Davies & Peck (Math. Dict.).
           [1913 Webster]
  
     5. (Geom.) That part of a line, or of a plane, or of space,
        which is infinitely distant. In modern geometry, parallel
        lines or planes are sometimes treated as lines or planes
        meeting at infinity.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Circle at infinity}, an imaginary circle at infinity,
        through which, in geometry of three dimensions, every
        sphere is imagined to pass.
  
     {Circular points at infinity}. See under {Circular}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  infinity
       n : time without end [syn: {eternity}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  153 Moby Thesaurus words for "infinity":
     Gaussian integer, aesthetic distance, algebraic number, ampleness,
     amplitude, astronomical number, billion, boundlessness, bulk,
     cardinal, cardinal number, ceaselessness, clearance, coeternity,
     compass, complex number, constancy, continualness, continuance,
     deep space, defective number, depths of space, distance,
     divergence, durability, endlessness, enormity, enormousness,
     eternalness, eternity, even number, ever-duringness,
     everlastingness, everness, everywhereness, expanse, extension,
     extent, farness, finite number, foreverness, formidableness,
     fraction, fullness, gigantism, glory, googol, googolplex, grandeur,
     grandness, great scope, greatness, holiness, hugeness,
     imaginary number, immensity, immutability, impair, incessancy,
     indestructibility, infinite duration, infinite goodness,
     infinite justice, infinite love, infinite mercy, infinite power,
     infinite wisdom, infinitude, integer, intensity, interminability,
     irrational, irrational number, jillion, large number, largeness,
     leeway, length, lengthiness, light, light-years, linear measures,
     long time, longitude, longness, magnitude, majesty, margin,
     measure, might, mightiness, mileage, mixed number, muchness,
     never-endingness, omnipotence, omnipotency, omnipresence,
     omniscience, omnisciency, ordinal, overall length, pair, parsecs,
     perdurability, perenniality, perennialness, permanence,
     perpetualness, perpetuity, perspective, piece, plenitude,
     polygonal number, power, prime number, prodigiousness,
     pure imaginary, range, rational, rational number, reach, real,
     real number, rectangular number, remoteness, round number,
     sempiternity, separation, serial number, sovereignty, space, span,
     stability, strength, stretch, stride, stupendousness, surd,
     timelessness, transcendental number, transfinite number,
     tremendousness, trillion, ubiquity, unceasingness, unity, vastness,
     way, ways, whole number, yardage, zillion
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  infinity n. 1. The largest value that can be represented in a
     particular type of variable (register, memory location, data type,
     whatever). 2. `minus infinity': The smallest such value, not necessarily
     or even usually the simple negation of plus infinity. In N-bit
     twos-complement arithmetic, infinity is 2^(N-1) - 1 but minus infinity
     is - (2^(N-1)), not -(2^(N-1) - 1). Note also that this is different
     from "time T equals minus infinity", which is closer to a
     mathematician's usage of infinity.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  infinity
       
          1.  The size of something {infinite}.
       
          Using the word in the context of sets is sloppy, since
          different {infinite set}s aren't necessarily the same size
          {cardinality} as each other.
       
          See also {aleph 0}
       
          2.  The largest value that can be represented in
          a particular type of variable ({register}, memory location,
          data type, whatever).
       
          See also {minus infinity}.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1994-11-18)