loca

[loh-kuh]

noun

a plural of locus.

locus

[loh-kuh s]

noun, plural lo·ci

[loh-sahy, -kee, -kahy] /ˈloʊ saɪ, -ki, -kaɪ/, lo·ca

[loh-kuh] /ˈloʊ kə/.

a place; locality.
a center or source, as of activities or power: locus of control.
Mathematics. the set of all points, lines, or surfaces that satisfy a given requirement.
Genetics. the chromosomal position of a gene as determined by its linear order relative to the other genes on that chromosome.

Origin of locus

1525–35; < Latin; OL stlocus a place

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for loca

bearing, habit, strait, site, attitude, manner, pass, plight, port, mien, deportment, arrangement, state, location, emplacement, form, pose, spot, disposition, condition

Examples from the Web for loca

Historical Examples of loca

In the urbana auspicia all loca effata must be within the sacred boundary of the pomoerium.
The Religious Experience of the Roman People
W. Warde Fowler
On the medieval stage there was a neutral place or platea and special localized and propertied places called sedes, domus, loca.
The Facts About Shakespeare
William Allan Nielson
On the Elizabethan stage the front stage is the platea, the inner and upper stages the domus or loca.
The Facts About Shakespeare
William Allan Nielson
Loca sacra etiam ipsa Dei templa monialium stupro et sanguinis et seminis effusione profanare non verentur.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Volume V
J. H. Merle d'Aubigné
Reguli interea in loca propinqua thesauris alius alio concessere.
De Bello Catilinario et Jugurthino
Caius Sallustii Crispi (Sallustius)

British Dictionary definitions for loca

locus

noun plural loci (ˈləʊsaɪ)

(in many legal phrases) a place or area, esp the place where something occurred
maths a set of points whose location satisfies or is determined by one or more specified conditionsthe locus of points equidistant from a given point is a circle
genetics the position of a particular gene on a chromosome

Word Origin for locus

C18: Latin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for loca

locus

(plural loci), 1715, "locality," from Latin locus "a place, spot, position," from Old Latin stlocus, literally "where something is placed," from PIE root *st(h)el- "to cause to stand, to place." Used by Latin writers for Greek topos. Mathematical sense by 1750.

loca in Medicine

locus

[lō′kəs]

n. pl. lo•ci (-sī′, -kē, -kī′)

A place; site.
The position that a given gene occupies on a chromosome.

loca in Science

locus

[lō′kəs]

Plural loci (lō′sī′, -kē, -kī′)

The set or configuration of all points whose coordinates satisfy a single equation or one or more algebraic conditions.
The position that a given gene occupies on a chromosome.

loca in Culture

locus

plur. loci (loh-seye, loh-keye)

In geometry, the set of all points (and only those points) that satisfy certain conditions; these points form a curve or figure. For example, the locus of all points in space one foot from a given point is a sphere having a radius of one foot and having its center at the given point. The locus of all points in a plane one foot from a given point is a circle having a radius of one foot and having its center at the given point.