colure

American  

[kuh-loor, koh-, koh-loor] / kəˈlʊər, koʊ-, ˈkoʊ lʊər /

noun

Astronomy.

1. either of two great circles of the celestial sphere intersecting each other at the poles, one passing through both equinoxes and the other through both solstices.

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colure British  

/ kəˈlʊə, ˈkəʊlʊə /

noun

1. either of two great circles on the celestial sphere, one of which passes through the celestial poles and the equinoxes and the other through the poles and the solstices

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Etymology

Origin of colure

1540–50; < Late Latin colūrus < Greek kólouros dock-tailed, equivalent to kól ( os ) docked + -ouros -tailed, adj. derivative of ourá tail; so called because the lower part is permanently hidden beneath the horizon

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

colure

Note the star μ, which serves to point out the Winter Solstice, where the solstitial colure intersects the ecliptic.

From A Field Book of the Stars by Olcott, William Tyler

Now the Serpent was so arranged as to be shown writhing itself for some distance along the equator, and then struggling upwards, along the autumnal colure, marking the zenith with its head.

From The Astronomy of the Bible An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References of Holy Scripture by Maunder, E. Walter (Edward Walter)

The reverence paid to Taurus continued long after, by the precession of the Equinoxes, the colure of the vernal equinox had come to pass through Aries.

From Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Pike, Albert

For some reason, the equator, the colure, the zenith and the poles were all marked out by these serpentine or draconic forms.

From The Astronomy of the Bible An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References of Holy Scripture by Maunder, E. Walter (Edward Walter)

Before the colure of the Vernal Equinox had passed into Aries, and after it had left Aldebarán and the Hyades, the Pleiades were, for seven or eight centuries, the leading stars of the Sabæan year.

From Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Pike, Albert

Related Words

• ring
• sphere