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

Thus after seventy-two years the colure of the vernal equinox which passed through a fixed star, corresponds with another fixed star. 

From Letters on England by Voltaire

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

The equator, ecliptic, and equinoctial colure intersect each other at a point close to the star η.

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

Then if the Earth's pole look to E, the �quinoxes are at D, C. Let this be at the time of Metho, when the horns of Aries were in the �quinoctial colure.

From On the magnet, magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments by Gilbert, William

The meridian at midnight at the time of the spring equinox is called a "colure,"—the "autumnal colure," because the sun crosses it in autumn.

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

Related Words

• ring
• sphere