apsis
Americannoun
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apsides
plural
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Astronomy. either of two points in an eccentric orbit, one higher apsis farthest from the center of attraction, the other lower apsis nearest to the center of attraction.
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Architecture. an apse.
noun
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Also called: apse. either of two points lying at the extremities of an eccentric orbit of a planet, satellite, etc, such as the aphelion and perihelion of a planet or the apogee and perigee of the moon. The line of apsides connects two such points and is the principal axis of the orbit
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another name for apse
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of apsis
1595–1605; < Latin < Greek hapsís (felloe of ) a wheel, arch, vault, originally, fastening, equivalent to háp ( tein ) to fasten + -sis -sis
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Without spire or tower, and divided into three parts of unequal length and height, the nave, the choir, and the circular apsis, it resembles one of the meanest of our parish churches in England.
From Architectural Antiquities of Normandy by John Sell Cotman
At Murano we stop a moment to look at the old Duomo, and to enjoy its quaint mosaics within, and the fine and graceful spirit of the apsis without.
From Venetian Life by William Dean Howells
But the most singular part of this church is the crypt under the apsis, a room about thirty feet long by fourteen wide, and sixteen high, of extreme simplicity, and remote antiquity.
From Account of a Tour in Normandy, Volume 1 by Dawson Turner
But the vault, the side walls, and those of the apsis, all the prisms, cylinders, cones, were bathed in the electric fluid.
From The Mysterious Island by Stephen W. White
At one end of the church is a small door, and at the other end a semicircular apsis; the windows are small apertures like loop-holes.
From Visits To Monasteries in the Levant by Robert Curzon
Change of line of apsides; period about 21,000 years.
From Astronomical Curiosities Facts and Fallacies by J. Ellard Gore
Thirdly, the variations in the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, combined with the precession of the equinoxes and the rotation of the apsides, may be regarded as operative.
From Outlines of the Earth's History A Popular Study in Physiography by Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
The time of revolution of a primary or secondary planet in reference to its line of apsides; that is, from one perigee or apogee to another.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
The two are joined by a diameter called the line of the apsides.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
Apsis, plural apsides, the line joining the aphelion and perihelion points; or the major axis of elliptical orbits.
From Recreations in Astronomy With Directions for Practical Experiments and Telescopic Work by Henry White Warren
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
