apsis
Americannoun
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Astronomy. either of two points in an eccentric orbit, one higher apsis farthest from the center of attraction, the other lower apsis nearest to the center of attraction.
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Architecture. an apse.
noun
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Also called: apse. either of two points lying at the extremities of an eccentric orbit of a planet, satellite, etc, such as the aphelion and perihelion of a planet or the apogee and perigee of the moon. The line of apsides connects two such points and is the principal axis of the orbit
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another name for apse
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of apsis
1595–1605; < Latin < Greek hapsís (felloe of ) a wheel, arch, vault, originally, fastening, equivalent to háp ( tein ) to fasten + -sis -sis
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
At Murano we stop a moment to look at the old Duomo, and to enjoy its quaint mosaics within, and the fine and graceful spirit of the apsis without.
From Venetian Life by Howells, William Dean
These are supported by short massy pillars: an embattled moulding runs round the windows.—In the choir the arches become pointed, but with Norman mouldings: the apsis is a reconstruction.
From Architectural Antiquities of Normandy by Cotman, John Sell
A reliquary, or case in which the relics of saints were kept. µ This word is also written apsis and absis.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah
But the vault, the side walls, and those of the apsis, all the prisms, cylinders, cones, were bathed in the electric fluid.
From The Mysterious Island by White, Stephen W.
The interior of the principal church in this monastery is interesting from the number of early Greek pictures which it contains, and which are hung on the walls of the apsis behind the altar.
From Visits To Monasteries in the Levant by Curzon, Robert
The line of the apsides has a slow forward angular motion in the plane of the planet's orbit, being retrograde only in the case of Venus.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 2 Amiel to Atrauli by Various
And, we might also ask, why the tangential resistance to the comet of Encke should not also produce a retrograde motion in the apsides of the orbit, instead of diminishing its period?
From Outlines of a Mechanical Theory of Storms Containing the True Law of Lunar Influence by Bassnett, Thomas
Any persons whom it could please have no better notion of what the words referred to signify than of the meaning of apsides and asymptotes.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 20, June, 1859 by Various
The phenomenon of the progression of the apsides of an oval orbit, which is here alluded to, is familiar to all students in mechanics.
From The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3, June, 1851 by Various
The semicircular apsides, with a decorative band beneath the cornices of the exterior galleries, are also a distinctly Rhenish detail.
From The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine by Mansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
