Lituus

1 definition found

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

  Lituus \Lit"u*us\, n.; pl. {Litui}. [L.]
     1. (Rom. Antig.)
        (a) A curved staff used by the augurs in quartering the
            heavens.
        (b) An instrument of martial music; a kind of trumpet of a
            somewhat curved form and shrill note.


            [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Math.) A spiral whose polar equation is r^{2}[theta] = a;
        that is, a curve the square of whose radius vector varies
        inversely as the angle which the radius vector makes with
        a given line.
        [1913 Webster]