cusp
a point or pointed end.
Anatomy, Zoology, Botany. a point, projection, or elevation, as on the crown of a tooth.
Also called spinode. Geometry. a point where two branches of a curve meet, end, and are tangent.
Architecture. a decorative device, used especially in Gothic architecture to vary the outlines of intradoses or to form architectural foils, consisting of a pair of curves tangent to the real or imaginary line defining the area decorated and meeting at a point within the area.
Astronomy. a point of a crescent, especially of the moon.
Astrology.
the zodiacal degree that marks the beginning of a house or a sign.
Informal. a person born on the first day of a sign.
a point that marks the beginning of a change: on the cusp of a new era.
Origin of cusp
1Other words from cusp
- cuspal, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use cusp in a sentence
In between, the soil was all harrowed and upturned into great cusps as though many swine had been rooting there for mast.
The Glory of The Coming | Irvin S. CobbThe recesses on the sides of the other cusps indicate their single or double lines of foliation.
The Stones of Venice, Volume III (of 3) | John RuskinNeither this number of cusps, nor its absolute dimensions, confer distinction upon the tooth.
Prehistoric Man | W. L. H. DuckworthAbove this is a large circular window, with sixteen small cusps and a small pierced quatrefoil on either side.
Some Account of Gothic Architecture in Spain | George Edmund StreetThe arcades are all cusped in the usual Moorish fashion, the outline of the cusps being horseshoe, but without an enclosing arch.
Some Account of Gothic Architecture in Spain | George Edmund Street
British Dictionary definitions for cusp
/ (kʌsp) /
any of the small elevations on the grinding or chewing surface of a tooth
any of the triangular flaps of a heart valve
a point or pointed end
Also called: spinode geometry a point at which two arcs of a curve intersect and at which the two tangents are coincident
architect a carving at the meeting place of two arcs
astronomy either of the points of a crescent moon or of a satellite or inferior planet in a similar phase
astrology any division between houses or signs of the zodiac
Origin of cusp
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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