vinculum

American  

[ving-kyuh-luhm] / ˈvɪŋ kjə ləm /

noun

• vincula
  plural

1. a bond signifying union or unity; tie.

2. Mathematics. a stroke or brace drawn over a quantity consisting of several members or terms, as , in order to show that they are to be considered together.

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vinculum British  

/ ˈvɪŋkjʊləm /

noun

1. a horizontal line drawn above a group of mathematical terms, used as an alternative to parentheses in mathematical expressions, as in x + y – z which is equivalent to x + ( y – z )

2. anatomy

   1. any bandlike structure, esp one uniting two or more parts

   2. another name for ligament

3. rare a unifying bond; tie

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• vincula
  plural

Etymology

Origin of vinculum

First recorded in 1670–80; from Latin: “fetter,” equivalent to vinc(īre) “to bind” + -ulum -ule

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vinculum vincula

You might expect 10 ÷ 5 is the same as 10/5 is the same as 10 over a 5 with a vinculum between them, but each has its own eccentricities.

From Slate ● Mar. 12, 2013

But it gets really tricky when people assume that a slash replaces a vinculum.

From Slate ● Mar. 12, 2013

A vinculum usually has little to do with division; it’s used in fractions and to group together numbers just as parentheses are.

From Slate ● Mar. 12, 2013

Calcareous matter, the great vinculum of many mineral bodies, is in a perpetual state of dissolution and decay, in every place where the influences of air and water may pervade.

From Theory of the Earth, Volume 1 (of 4) by James Hutton

Then I hope you will allow it to be not incongruous this evening, Homer being the original vinculum between you and me.

From Gryll Grange by Thomas Love Peacock

Note the phrases et is, et ea, etc., in the sense: and that too; as,— vincula, et ea sempiterna, imprisonment, and that too permanently.

From New Latin Grammar by Charles E. (Charles Edwin) Bennett

And the King Henry came home to England before harvest, after the mass of St. Peter "ad vincula".

From The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle by J. H. (James Henry) Ingram

The transverse vincula are often at right angles to the principal branches, and the meshes, where formed, are often long and rectangular.

From The North American Slime-Moulds A Descriptive List of All Species of Myxomycetes Hitherto Reported from the Continent of North America, with Notes on Some Extra-Limital Species by Thomas H. (Thomas Huston) MacBride

The regular Latin phrase for imprisonment is "in vincula conicere": Pauly-Wissowa, s.v. "carcer."

From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by W. Warde Fowler

His body was buried first at All Hallows, Barking, and then removed to St. Peter’s ad vincula in the Tower, where it lies beside that of Sir Thomas More.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 4 "Finland" to "Fleury, Andre" by Various