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rhombus

[rom-buh s]
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noun, plural rhom·bus·es, rhom·bi [rom-bahy] /ˈrɒm baɪ/.
  1. an oblique-angled equilateral parallelogram; any equilateral parallelogram except a square.
  2. an equilateral parallelogram, including the square as a special case.
  3. a rhombohedron.
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Origin of rhombus

1560–70; < Latin < Greek rhómbos anything that may be spun around, derivative of rhémbein to revolve
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for rhombus

Historical Examples

  • And a Rhomboides is so opposed to an oblong, as a Rhombus is to a quadrate.

    The Way To Geometry

    Peter Ramus

  • The Rhombus cardina, a passable fish of the pleuronect genus.

    The Sailor's Word-Book

    William Henry Smyth

  • What is it about the rhombus, pa, and when am I to read Juvenal?

    Cradock Nowell, Vol. 2 (of 3)

    Richard Doddridge Blackmore

  • We use "parallelogram" to cover "rhomboid," "rhombus," "oblong," and "square."

    The Teaching of Geometry

    David Eugene Smith

  • The Rhombus maximus (Cuvier), said to be the best, and excepting the halibut, the largest of our flat fishes.

British Dictionary definitions for rhombus

rhombus

noun plural -buses or -bi (-baɪ)
  1. an oblique-angled parallelogram having four equal sidesAlso called: rhomb Compare square (def. 1)
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Word Origin

C16: from Greek rhombos something that spins; related to rhembein to whirl
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 rhombus

n.

1560s, from Late Latin rhombus, from Greek rhombos "rhombus, rhomb, lozenge; spinning top, maghic wheel used by sorcerers; a spinning motion," from rhembesthai "to spin, whirl," from PIE *wrembh-, from *werbh- "to turn, twist, bend" (cf. Old English weorpan "to throw away"), from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
rhombus in Science

rhombus

[rŏm′bəs]
Plural rhombuses rhombi (rŏm′bī)
  1. A parallelogram with four equal sides; an equilateral parallelogram.
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Related formsrhomboid, rhomboidal adjective
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.