thermal
[thur-muh l]
- Also thermic. of, relating to, or caused by heat or temperature: thermal capacity.
- of, relating to, or of the nature of thermae: thermal waters.
- designed to aid in or promote the retention of body heat: a thermal blanket.
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- Meteorology. a rising air current caused by heating from the underlying surface, especially such a current when not producing a cloud.
- thermals. thermal underwear.
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Origin of thermal
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for thermal
Contemporary Examples
Williams An Ohio- based corporation that works in the electrical and thermal insulation industry.
Body parts, food, and appliances seen with a thermal imaging camera.
Thermal maps of Earth reveal a lot about the past and present, including changing conditions under climate change.
That measure is known as thermal inertia, and it provides information far beyond what we can get from visible light alone.
Ohio-based corporation that works in the electrical and thermal insulation industry.
Historical Examples
That's why we have organized the little company of Thermal Explorations, Limited.
Two Thousand Miles BelowCharles Willard Diffin
After dinner, I went for a stroll in the park of the thermal establishment.
The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume VIII.Guy de Maupassant
The place was still hot, but it was thermal heat, not radioactivity.
The Measure of a ManRandall Garrett
It is celebrated for its thermal springs and as a fashionable resort.
This is called contact metamorphism or thermal metamorphism.
The Economic Aspect of GeologyC. K. Leith
thermal
- Also: thermic (ˈθɜːmɪk) of, relating to, caused by, or generating heat or increased temperature
- hot or warmthermal baths; thermal spring
- (of garments or fabrics) specially designed so as to have exceptional heat-retaining properties
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- meteorol a column of rising air caused by local unequal heating of the land surface, and used by gliders and birds to gain height
- (plural) thermal garments, esp underclothes
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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 thermal
adj.
1756, "having to do with hot springs," from French thermal (Buffon), from Greek therme "heat," from PIE *ghwerm-/*ghworm- "warm" (cf. Latin fornax "an oven, kiln," formus "warm," Old English wearm; see warm). Sense of "having to do with heat" is first recorded 1837. The noun meaning "rising current of relatively warm air" is recorded from 1933.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
thermal
(thûr′məl)- Of, relating to, using, producing, or caused by heat.
- Intended or designed in such a way as to help retain body heat.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
thermal
[thûr′məl]
- Relating to heat.
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- A usually columnar mass of warm air that rises in the lower atmosphere because it is less dense than the air around it. Thermals form because the ground surface is heated unevenly by the Sun. The air usually rises until it is in equilibrium with the air surrounding it.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.