Spiral

4 definitions found

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

  Spiral \Spi"ral\, n. [Cf. F. spirale. See {Spiral}, a.]
     1. (Geom.) A plane curve, not reentrant, described by a
        point, called the generatrix, moving along a straight line
        according to a mathematical law, while the line is
        revolving about a fixed point called the pole. Cf.
        {Helix}.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Anything which has a spiral form, as a spiral shell.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Equiangular spiral},a plane curve which cuts all its
        generatrices at the same angle. Same as {Logarithmic
        spiral}, under {Logarithmic}.
  
     {Spiral of Archimedes}, a spiral the law of which is that the
        generatrix moves uniformly along the revolving line, which
        also moves uniformly.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  Spiral \Spi"ral\, a. [Cf. F. spiral. See {Spire} a winding
     line.]
     1. Winding or circling round a center or pole and gradually
        receding from it; as, the spiral curve of a watch spring.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Winding round a cylinder or imaginary axis, and at the
        same time rising or advancing forward; winding like the
        thread of a screw; helical.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Geom.) Of or pertaining to a spiral; like a spiral.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Spiral gear}, or {Spiral wheel} (Mach.), a gear resembling
        in general a spur gear, but having its teeth cut at an
        angle with its axis, or so that they form small portions
        of screws or spirals.
  
     {Spiral gearing}, a kind of gearing sometimes used in light
        machinery, in which spiral gears, instead of bevel gears,
        are used to transmit motion between shafts that are not
        parallel.
  
     {Spiral operculum}, an operculum whih has spiral lines of
        growth.
  
     {Spiral shell}, any shell in which the whorls form a spiral
        or helix.
  
     {Spiral spring}. See the Note under {Spring}, n., 4.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  spiral
       adj : in the shape of a coil [syn: {coiling}, {helical}, {spiraling},
              {volute}, {voluted}, {whorled}, {turbinate}]
       n 1: a plane curve traced by a point circling about the center
            but at ever-greater distances from it
       2: a curve that lies on the surface of a cylinder or cone and
          cuts the element at a constant angle [syn: {helix}]
       3: ornament consisting of a curve on a plane that winds around
          a center with an increasing distance from the center [syn:
           {volute}]
       4: a structure consisting of something wound in a continuous
          series of loops; "a coil of rope" [syn: {coil}, {volute},
          {whorl}, {helix}]
       5: flying downward in a helical path with a large radius
       v 1: to wind or move in a spiral course; "the muscles and nerves
            of his fine drawn body were coiling for action"; "black
            smoke coiling up into the sky"; "the young people
            gyrated on the dance floor" [syn: {gyrate}, {coil}]
       2: form a spiral; "The path spirals up the mountain"
       3: move in a spiral or zigzag course [syn: {corkscrew}]
       [also: {spiralling}, {spiralled}]

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

  218 Moby Thesaurus words for "spiral":
     Milky Way, O-shaped, Via Lactea, acrobatics, aerobatics, ambagious,
     anfractuous, arise, ascend, aspire, backhanded, bank, banking,
     barred spiral, barred spiral galaxy, become airborne, chandelle,
     circle, circling, circuit, circuiteer, circuition, circuitous,
     circuitousness, circuitry, circular, circularity, circulate,
     circulation, circumambience, circumambiency, circumambulate,
     circumambulation, circumflexion, circumlocution, circummigrate,
     circummigration, circumnavigate, circumnavigation, circumvent,
     cirrus, claw skyward, close the circle, cochlear, cochleate, coil,
     coiled, come full circle, come up, compass, corkscrew, corkscrewy,
     cosmic noise, crab, crabbing, curl, curl upwards, curlicue, cycle,
     describe a circle, deviance, deviancy, deviating, deviation,
     deviative, devious, deviousness, digression, digressive, dip,
     discursive, dive, diving, encircle, encompass, entwine, evolute,
     excursion, excursive, excursus, feather, fishtail, fishtailing,
     flank, float, fly, fly aloft, gain altitude, galactic circle,
     galactic cluster, galactic coordinates, galactic latitude,
     galactic longitude, galactic nebula, galactic noise, galactic pole,
     galaxy, girdle, girdle the globe, glide, go about, go around,
     go round, go the round, go up, grow up, gyre, gyring, hang,
     helical, helicoid, helix, hover, indirect, indirection, involute,
     island universe, kink, kite, lap, leave the ground, levitate, loom,
     loop, make a circuit, meandering, mount, nose dive, oblique, orbit,
     orbital, orbiting, out-of-the-way, plane, plow, poise, porpoise,
     power dive, pull out, pull up, pull-up, pullout, push down,
     pushdown, rear, rear up, revolve, ringlet, rise, rise up, roll,
     rolling, rotary, round, roundabout, roundaboutness, rounding,
     screw, screw-shaped, scroll, scrolled, sideslip, skid, skirt, soar,
     spheroidal galaxy, spin, spiral galaxy, spiral nebula, spiraling,
     spire, spiroid, stall, stand up, stunt, stunting, supergalaxy,
     surge, surround, swarm up, sweep up, swirl, tactical maneuvers,
     take off, tendril, tower, turbinal, turbinate, turn, turning,
     twine, twirl, twist, undulate, up, upgo, upgrow, upheave, uprise,
     upspin, upstream, upsurge, upswarm, upwind, verticillate, volplane,
     volute, voluted, volution, vortex, wheel, wheeling, whirl, whorl,
     whorled, wreathe, yaw, zoom