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

Where the ecliptic crosses the solstitial colure is the spot where the sun appears to be when it is farthest north of the equator, June 21st.

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

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

And as the equinoctial colure passed through the middle of Aries, when that sphere was constructed, he infers, by calculations of their retrograde motion from their place then till the year A.D.

From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 18 Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce, from the Earliest Records to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century, By William Stevenson by Stevenson, William

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)

"Where the four circles, the horizon, the zodiac, the equator, and the equinoctial colure, join; the last threeintersecting each other so as to form three crosses, as may be seen in the armillary sphere." v.

From Divine Comedy, Cary's Translation, Complete by Cary, Henry Francis

Related Words

• ring
• sphere