| 释义 |
vertical, a. and n.|ˈvɜːtɪkəl|
Also 6–7 verticall.
[a. F. vertical (1545, = Sp., Pg. vertical, It. verticale), or ad. late L. verticālis (Quicherat), f. vertic-, stem of vertex vertex.]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to, placed or situated at, passing through, the vertex or zenith; occupying a position in the heavens directly overhead or above a given place or point.
†a. vertical point, = vertex 2. Also fig., the culminating or highest point, the point of greatest development or perfection (freq. in the 17th c.). Obs.
1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 16 Leuell with th' earth, and his verticall point, in the forsaid æquinoctial. 1622Peacham Compl. Gentl. ix. (1906) 61 Latitude is the distance of the Meridian, betweene the verticall point (or pole of the Horizon) and the æquinoctiall. 1653W. Ramesey Astrol. Restored i. viii. 15 Those that live further North are of stronger body,..because their vertigal [sic] point being far removed from the Suns course, they more abound in cold and moisture. 1715tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. 368 Let XBL be a Vertical Circle, X the Zenith, (for the Vertical point may be consider'd as mov'd in regard of the Ecliptic unmov'd). 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Point, The Zenith and Nadir are the Vertical Points.
fig.1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xii. 103 Such successe, as well declared it was Gods will.., that the English name should now be brought to the verticall poynt thereof without any thing being able to resist it. 1626T. H. Caussin's Holy Court 363 Saint Ireneus..calleth Charity..the top, and verticall point of all vertues, guifts, and fauours of God. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. III, Wks. (1711) 43 This family seemed now in the zenith and vertical point of its greatness. a1671Ld. Fairfax Mem. (1699) 103 Here was the vertical point on which the army's honour and reputation turned into reproach and scandal. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 284 Both Christianity and their Country are past their Vertical Point, and are upon their Declension.
b. vertical circle, an azimuth-circle (see azimuth 1).
1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glass 22 Here you se A.E.C. represent the verticall point, B.D. the poles of the world, by which and A. (being the vertical circle) is the meridian circle A.B.C.D. delineated. 1594Blundevil Exerc. iii. i. xix. (1597) 154 b, Ther is another great circle called the circle Verticall, which passeth right over our heades through our Zenith. 1594J. Davis Seamen's Secr. ii. (1607) 8 Circles of Azumuths, or verticall circles, are quarters of great circles, concurring together in the Zenith. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vi. iii. 112 Measure the extent CM on the Vertical-Circle, and apply it to the Line of Signs. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Azimuths or Vertical Circles, are great Circles intersecting each other in the Zenith and Nadir,..and cutting the Horizon at Right Angles. 1715tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. 348 Let ZBL be a Vertical Circle, in which Z is the Zenith. 1846A. Young Naut. Dict. 24 The vertical circle which passes through the east and west points of the horizon is termed the Prime Vertical. 1860Olmstead Mech. Heavens 23 But if the point is above the horizon, then its azimuth is estimated by passing a vertical circle through it [etc.].
c. Of the sun, stars, etc., or in general use.
1594Blundevil Exerc. iv. xxvi. (1597) 228 As many stars as passe right vnder your Zenith are said to bee verticall. 1625N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. x. (1635) 220 To them the Sunne is twice in the yeere verticall, that is directly ouer their heads. 1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 43 The extream heat of the Sun, which when vertical usually raises vapors in abundance. 1679Moxon Math. Dict. s.v. Vertex, The Equator is said to be Vertical to them who have a continual Equinox; because, it constantly passes by the Vertex of the Place. 1715tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. 271 The Globe must be turn'd about till the first of the two Places becomes Vertical, (which it will be, when it arrives at the Meridian of the Globe). 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 21 He knew that the sun, at the summer solstice, was vertical to the inhabitants of Syene. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 53 We find the services of the winds almost equally important in meliorating the fervour of a vertical sun. 1844Kinglake Eothen xvii, Becalmed under a vertical sun in the midst of the wide ocean. 1880Geikie Phys. Geog. i. ii. 16 At each equinox the sun appears vertical over the equator.
fig.1593Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 266 Come all the daintiest dainties of this toungue, and doe homage to your Verticall Starre. a1734North Exam. i. ii. §96 (1740) 82 It fell out in a Conjuncture so vertical, that without it both Nations might have plunged into a mischievous Condition of Civil War. 1844Kinglake Eothen iv, The strong vertical light of Homer's poetry is blazing so full upon the people and things of the Iliad.
†d. fig. Pertaining to, characteristic of, or denoting the period or position of greatest eminence or perfection; at one's highest point or position. Cf. vertical point (a. fig. above). Obs.
1641Ld. J. Digby Sp. in Ho. Com. 19 Jan. 25 In voting this bill, we shall contribute..to the perpetuating our Sun, our Soveraigne, in his vesticall [sic.], in his noone-day lustre. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iv. 175 But now in the time of the aforesaid William Heyworth, the Cathedral of Litchfield was in the verticall height thereof. 1655― Hist. Camb. (1840) 186 As Cambridge was his vertical place, wherein he was in height of honour. 1673Hickeringill Greg. F. Greyb. 38 Though Greg. and his virtuoso's seem to themselves to be vertical and cock-a-hoop.
2. vertical angle:
a. An opposite angle (see opposite a. 1 and quot. 1704).
b. The angle opposite the base of a triangle or polygon.
1571Digges Pantom. i. vi. C iij, Two right lines crossing one another, make the contrary or verticall angles equall. 1660Barrow Euclid i. xv. Schol., The vertical (or opposite) angles. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v. Angles, Opposite or vertical Angles, as, 1. Those that are made by two Right Lines crossing each other, and which touch only in their Angular Point. 1771Encycl. Brit. III. 910/2 The tangent of half the vertical angle. Ibid., The line CF bisecting the vertical angle. 1798Hutton Course Math. (1806) I. 368 In a Triangle, having given the two Sides about the Vertical Angle. 1862Todhunter Euclid i. 15 If two straight lines cut one another, the vertical or opposite angles shall be equal.
3. Placed or extending at right angles to the plane of the horizon; perpendicular; upright.
a. Geom. Of a straight line or plane surface.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Line Vertical, in Perspective, is the common Section of the Vertical Plane and of the Draught. Ibid. s.v. Plane, Vertical Plane, in Opticks and Perspective, is a Plain Surface which passeth along the Principal Ray, and consequently thro' the Eye, and is perpendicular to the Geometrical Plane. 1715tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. 436 Therefore there is given the Angle Llλ the Difference or Sum of them, and Flf Vertical to it. 1812–6Playfair Nat. Phil. (1819) I. 11 A plane at any place perpendicular to the line in which bodies gravitate, is called a horizontal plane; and any plane passing through that line is called a vertical plane. 1851S. P. Woodward Mollusca i. 62 Their shell is usually straight, or coiled in a vertical plane. 1871Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) I. iv. 111 When the short diagonal of the prism was vertical.
b. In general use.
1725Fam. Dict. s.v. Windmil, That is reputed the best made with vertical Sails, like the ordinary Windmils. 1756tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 10 Vertical rainbows in the sky are not uncommon, whereas the horizontal are very extraordinary. 1813Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 187 In some coal fields one part of a stratum is inclined, and the other part vertical. 1831Brewster Optics xxxi. 260 Some phenomena both of vertical and lateral mirage. 1855Maury Phys. Geog. Sea vi. 326 Under the vertical rays of the never clouded sun. 1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 940 The adaptation of the Virginian Creeper to climbing up vertical walls.
Comb.1857T. Moore Handbk. Brit. Ferns (ed. 3) 10 The vertical-ringed spore-cases, when mature, split suddenly with a transverse fissure.
c. With abstract nouns, esp. of movement or direction.
1794[see verticity 1]. 1802Paley Nat. Theol. ix. §6 The compound motion of the lower jaw, half lateral, and half vertical. 1813Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 31 Plates of rock, separated by seams which have generally a vertical direction. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 410 Four-fifths of the town of Cumana was shaken down by a vertical shock. 1859J. R. Greene Man. Anim. Kingd. i. Protozoa Introd. p. xxix, The relations of animals to the elements in which they live... Their vertical (bathymetrical) distribution. 1872Darwin Emotions xi. 273 We give a vertical nod of approval..when we approve of their conduct.
Comb.1850Denison Clock & Watch-m. 48 It would fail for a balance or vertical-force-magnetometer.
d. Of mechanical appliances or structures. Also in technical use applied to machines which operate vertically.
Numerous other examples are given in Knight Dict. Mech. (1875 and 1884).
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 141 The comparative power of horizontal and vertical windmills. 1859Handbk. Turning 79 The vertical, or universal cutter. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2708/1 Vertical Boring-machine, a drill or boring-machine having a vertical spindle. Ibid., Vertical Planing-machine. 1888Jacobi Printers' Voc. 151 Vertical engine, an upright engine, as distinct from a ‘horizontal one’.
e. Mus. Involving, pertaining to, or directed at the relationship between notes sounded simultaneously, rather than the pattern of successive notes; harmonic or chordal rather than melodic.
1889Cent. Dict., Vertical composition, musical composition in which the chief attention is put on the harmonic structure of the successive chords. 1928Grove's Dict. Mus. (ed. 3) V. 164/1 Later events have made it almost superfluous to discuss..his [sc. R. Strauss's] theories of ‘vertical hearing’. 1942, etc. [see horizontal a. (n.) 4]. 1946A. Bliss in A. L. Bacharach Brit. Mus. of our Time xi. 156 As in all his music, one must concentrate on horizontal as well as vertical listening so as to savour the beauty and interest of the inner parts.
f. Special collocations, as vertical bond, vertical care-grinder, vertical dial (cf. B. 3), vertical escapement, vertical file, vertical filing, vertical fire, vertical watch, etc.; vertical breeze = breeze n.2 3 b; vertical cut, motion of a recording stylus up and down, rather than from side to side; also attrib.; cf. hill and dale s.v. hill n. 1 b; opp. lateral cut s.v. lateral a. 4 j; vertical gust = vertical breeze above; vertical interval, the vertical distance between the heights represented by adjacent contours on a map; vertical man, a living man, one standing upright (as opposed to a recumbent or dead one); vertical recording, magnetic recording in which the direction of magnetization is at right angles to the plane of the recording medium. Also in collocations often used attrib., as vertical-shaft, vertical-spindle, vertical-take-off.
A number of other scientific or special terms are defined in encyclopædic Dicts.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. 1131 *Vertical bond is a course of bricks, stone, or other materials, tending to support or strengthen the building vertically.
1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 296 To suffer from a *vertical breeze (also vertical gust), to be nervous. 1934D. L. Sayers Nine Tailors iii. 279 He got a vertical breeze up. 1965J. R. Hetherington Selina's Aunt 59 The term ‘vertical breeze’ was co-temporary [with ‘wind up’], and may have been either the originating phrase or a further refinement.
1859Slang Dict. 114 *Vertical care-grinder, the treadmill.
1935J. Mills Fugue in Cycles & Bels (1936) xi. 145 *Vertical-cut phonograph discs of the most recent type can record from 40 to 9000 cycles. 1975[see lateral a. 4 j]. 1977Gramophone Apr. 1522/1 Every one of these hill-and-dale vertical-cut labels had given place to lateral-cut issues under the same mark by that year [sc. 1920].
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vii. vi. 11 The *Vertical Dial, whose Plane lieth in the Horizon, for which cause many call it the Horizontal Dial. 1728[see B. 3 a]. 1877Encycl. Brit. VII. 155/1 Vertical dials, when on a vertical plane facing one of the cardinal points.
1850Denison Treatise Clock & Watch-making 33 The escapement was exactly the same as that of a bottle-jack, or the commonest kind of watch, and is called a *vertical escapement. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 248 Vertical Escapement..[is] an escapement in which the pallet axis or the balance staff is set at right angles to the axis of the escape wheel.
1906Library Jrnl. XXXI. 13 A newspaper man..goes to the *vertical file, picks out a handful of articles on the subject.
1909Independent (N.Y.) 18 Nov. 1126/1 An assistant..deposits the article in an oblong *vertical filing-envelope, ten by eleven inches.
1842Burn Nav. & Mil. Techn. Dict. i. s.v. Feu, Feu courbe ou vertical, curved or *vertical fire, generally from mortars laid at an angle of not less than 15°. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 712 Vertical fire, in artillery, that directed upward at such an angle as that it will fall vertically, or nearly so, to its destination.
1917Daily Mail 19 July 4/5 Stalled his 'bus and pancaked thirty feet{ddd}crashed completely{ddd}put a *vertical gust up me. 1925Vertical gust [see vertical breeze above].
1885G. W. Usill in H. S. Marrett Pract. Treat. Land & Engin. Surveying (ed. 4) 320 In this way a table may be calculated showing the horizontal equivalents for the required *vertical interval at each degree of slope up to about 30°. 1969G. C. Dickinson Maps & Air Photographs iv. 62 Although contours are widely understood several aspects of their significance are not always fully appreciated. For example their effectiveness in representing terrain is closely controlled by the vertical interval.
1930Auden Poems 2 Let us honour if we can The *vertical man Though we value none But the horizontal one. 1961Guardian 16 Feb. 10/5 He was..a ‘vertical man’, and that in an age when intellectuals have been found flat on their faces. 1975G. Howell In Vogue 61 T. S. Eliot was one vertical man who was honoured..by contemporary writers.
1982Sci. Amer. July 71/3 A number of companies in the U.S., Europe and Japan are working on high-density memory systems based on *vertical recording. 1983Austral. Microcomputer Mag. Aug. 67/1 It has announced prototypes of vertical-recording technology disk drives.
1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 891/2 *Vertical shaft alternator. 1967Vertical-shaft [see planetary a. 1 f].
1935Discovery May 143/1 *Vertical spindle pump. 1964S. Crawford Basic Engin. Processes vii. 190 Vertical-spindle machine employing the face of a cup or segmental wheel.
1935Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXIX. 1137 So that probably on any day one could actually hover in an autogiro; and they knew also that with the machine which had been illustrated they could achieve *vertical take-off as well. 1960Daily Tel. 26 Apr. 1 Britain, France and West Germany are to co-operate in developing a supersonic, vertical-take-off military aircraft. 1972Guardian 28 June 1/2 The fourth of the RAF's vertical take-off Harriers to crash in the past few weeks came down yesterday at Düsseldorf.
1838Penny Cycl. XII. 302/2 We shall now give a description of a common *vertical watch. 1850Denison Clock & Watch-m. 145 The old vertical watch, so called because the scape-wheel stands vertically when the other wheels are horizontal.
4. Having a position at right angles to the plane of the axis, body, or supporting surface; pointing or situated directly upwards or downwards.
a. Bot. Of a leaf or other part.
Martyn Lang. Bot. (1793) also gives vertical leaf (after Linnæus's folium verticale) as = obverse leaf, but objects to the use of the term.
1776J. Lee Introd. Bot. Explan. Terms 382 Vertical, Leaves so situated that the Base is perpendicular to the Apex. 1866Treas. Bot. 1212 1. 1879 A. Gray Struct. Bot. iii. §4 (ed. 6) 108 Vertical leaves, those with blades of the ordinary kind, but presenting their edges instead of their faces to the earth and sky, or when erect with one edge directed to the stem and the other away from it.
b. Zool., esp. of certain fins of fishes.
1834McMurtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 203 A vertical caudal, as in Gymnetrus, but shorter. 1880Günther Fishes 40 The vertical fins are situated in the median dorsal line, from the head to the extremity of the tail.
5. Zool., Anat., etc. Of or pertaining to, situated on, affecting, the vertex of the head.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 315 Stemmata: Vertical, when they are placed in the Vertex. 1891Cent. Dict. s.v., Vertical eyes of a fish. Ibid., The vertical crest of some birds is horizontal when not erected. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 546 Meningitis, whether vertical or posterior-basic, is caused by an invasion of micro-organisms.
†6. Belonging to giddiness. Obs.—0
1623Cockeram.
7. Of or pertaining to the different levels of a hierarchy or progression.
a. Extending over or involving successive stages in the production of a particular class of goods. Opp. horizontal a. (n.) 3 b.
1920Westm. Gaz. 2 Dec. 6/1 The vertical Trusts constructed by Stumm, Thyssen and the other raw-material magnates. 1927Daily Tel. 11 Oct. 15/4 He had created what is technically called a vertical combination, embracing every stage of the soap industry. 1959Listener 5 Nov. 768/2 The existing vertical firms have been operating in a market dominated by the factors created by horizontal trading and few indeed have controlled their price policies by vertical statistics and vertical objectives. 1960[see agribusiness]. 1962R. B. Fuller Epic Poem on Industrialization 27 A corporation gun nuzzling trick;..precipitating vertical merger. 1967,1968[see horizontal a. (n.) 3 b]. 1975N.Y. Times Mag. 3 Oct. 15 Proponents of the effort call it vertical divestiture, by which they mean forcing the largest oil companies to pick one activity—production or refining or transportation/marketing—and sell off the other parts of the action. 1975J. De Bres tr. Mandel's Late Capitalism xii. 384 The process of centralization can only find expression in a growing centralization of capital, among other things, in the form of vertical integration of big companies.
b. Involving differences or changes of level as in social class, income group, or the like.
1927P. A. Sorokin Social Mobility vii. 133 There are two principal types of social mobility, horizontal and vertical. 1931, etc. [see horizontal a. (n.) 3 c]. 1976F. Zweig New Acquisitive Society i. v. 52 The shedding of middle-class values and style of life in the younger generation..is of much deeper significance, transcending the confines of vertical mobility.
c. vertical union, a trade union which draws its members from a particular industry without regard to their individual crafts; vertical market, one comprising all the potential purchasers in a particular occupation or industry.
1933Sun (Baltimore) 1 Sept. 2/1 This means a vertical union in each industry, free of domination or control either by employers or outside labor leaders. 1937,1950Vertical union [see horizontal a. (n.) 3 d]. 1978Business Week (Industr. Ed.) 17 July 36g H-P's role has been primarily as a systems company emphasizing vertical markets needing a wide variety of supporting electronics. 1983Austral. Microcomputer Mag. Aug. 16/3 HiSoft believes there is a big need for vertical market software, in which a common shell is modified to suit individual needs. 1984Sydney Morning Herald 10 Nov. 6/1 (Advt.), They are presently expanding into a new and highly promising vertical market and offer a Sales Management Opportunity. 1985Which Computer? Apr. 45/1 This means that BOS is one of the richest potential sources of vertical market software written in the UK for the UK market.
d. vertical proliferation (see quots.).
1966Economist 22 Oct. 350/2 Like other near-nuclear nations, they are unwilling to promise to stay out of the club unless its members will promise to halt what Canada's foreign minister has called their ‘vertical proliferation’; that is, promise to stop testing, producing and piling up nuclear arms. 1980Sci. Amer. July 31/2 In the circumstances what can be done to curb both ‘vertical’ proliferation (the increase in the numbers and kinds of nuclear weapons in the hands of the nuclear-weapons states) and ‘horizontal’ proliferation (the further spread of nuclear weapons to nations that do not already have them)?
e. vertical thinking, deductive reasoning; opp. lateral thinking s.v. lateral a. 1 b.
1966,1967[see lateral a. 1 b]. 1970G. Greer Female Eunuch 108 The take-over by computers of much vertical thinking has placed more and more emphasis on the creative propensities of human thought.
8. Pertaining to or being an aerial photograph taken looking vertically downwards.
1925Jones & Griffiths Aerial Surveying by Rapid Methods ii. 8 Such a procedure will..be necessary when mapping any large area, whether the work be done by ‘vertical’ or ‘oblique’ photographs. 1932Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVI. 503 The first field operation is the vertical photography along strips about thirty miles apart. Ibid., As soon as each vertical flight was completed the films were developed. 1974P. R. Wolf Elem. Photogrammetry vi. 117 Relief displacement often causes straight roads, fence lines, etc., on rolling ground to appear crooked on a vertical photograph. 1983J. C. McCormack Surveying Fund. xxii. 404 The oblique view is more easily understood by the public than is the plan view contained in vertical aerial photographs.
B. n. [Ellipt. use of the adj.]
†1. The vertical point; the vertex or zenith. In quots. fig. Obs.
1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xv. §119 King Henries glory thus ascended to the highest verticall in France. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. iv. vi. (1821) 104 A naked intuition of eternal truth which is always the same, which never rises nor sets, but always stands still in its vertical, and fills the whole horizon of the soul with a mild and gentle light. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. 100 Now she was in the Verticall of her favour, wherein hence-forward she began to decline.
2. a. A vertical circle, line, or plane.
prime vertical: see prime a. 9 b.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vii. x. 15 If you have not time until the Sun cometh unto the Azimuth of the Wall, or the Vertical of it, which cutteth the Pole thereof. Ibid., The Sun is neerer to the Meridian, than to the Vertical of the Plane. 1674Moxon Tutor Astron. v. Prob. iv. (ed. 3) 154 You may reduce all Verticals into Horizontals [in dialling]. 1774M. Mackenzie Maritime Surv. 52 This Angle PZs..is therefore equal to the horizontal Distance of the Vertical of the two Stars from the Meridian. 1834M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sci. vii. 55 The difference of the latitudes being the angle contained between the verticals at the extremities of the arc. 1868Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 449 Every portion of matter left to itself..falls in the direction of the vertical of the place on which it falls. 1882Geikie Text-bk. Geol. iv. vi. 526 In an inclined fault the level of the selected stratum is protracted across the fissure until a vertical from it will reach the level of the same bed.
b. Math. A vertical angle (see A. 2).
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Angle, The Measure of an Angle without the Centre, is half of the Arches HI and LM, where⁓on it and its Vertical K do stand.
c. the vertical, the vertical line or position; the perpendicular.
1834M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sci. vii. 56 Local attractions, which cause the plumb-line to deviate from the vertical. 1840Ibid. xxix. (ed. 5) 335 The dip [of the needle] was 89° 59′, which was within one minute of the vertical. 1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 849 A line drawn tangentially to the apical portion will very nearly coincide with the vertical. Ibid. In consequence of the continuing curvature..the now erect apical portion becomes bent over out of the vertical.
d. Austral. Opal-mining. (See quots.)
1934Geol. Survey, Mineral Resources (New South Wales Dept. Mines) No. 36. 116 The mineral is found also in vertical or sub-vertical joints and cracks..known locally as ‘verticals’. 1967I. L. Idriess Opals & Sapphires 48 A vertical seam cuts in: that is, a seam running downward from the roof..which in general we used to call a ‘vertical’.
3. A vertical dial (see A. 3 f).
In contrast to later use, Sturmy gives the name of vertical to the horizontal dial.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. Aaaa 2, I will name the Dials,..viz. Eight Verticals and Decliners. 1728Chambers Cycl., Vertical Dial, is a Sun-Dial, drawn on the Plane of a Vertical Circle; or perpendicular to the Horizon... These are particularly call'd..East,..West,..South, and..North Verticals, when opposed to one, or other of these Cardinal Points of the Horizon.
4. (See quot.)
1902Cornish Naturalist Thames 180 In the slang of the rock garden the plants living..on upright rocks are called ‘verticals’.
5. A vertical aerial photograph (see sense A. 8 above).
1925Jones & Griffiths Aerial Surveying by Rapid Methods vi. 69 These [oblique photographs] provide valuable information about the nature of the ground which eventually is to be mapped by verticals. 1954W. D. Thornbury Princ. Geomorphol. xxi. 535 Verticals are more widely used than obliques in geologic field work. 1976J. B. Garner et al. Surveying xiii. 233 If it is required to photograph a long strip of land, many photographs will be required. Each photograph should be a good vertical.
Hence ˈverticalness. rare—0.
1727Bailey (vol. II), Verticalness, the being right over one's Head. [Hence in later Dicts.]
▸ vertical blind n. any of various types of blind which hang down from above a window; (now) spec. a louvre blind on which the slats hang vertically.
1851Sci Amer. 7 June 302/2, I claim [as a patent] the application of *vertical blinds, shutters, or screens on the outside of railroad cars..to prevent the entrance of dust, &c. into the windows. 1949Berkshire (Mass.) Evening Eagle 26 Nov. 12/1 (advt.) Vertical blinds... For complete light and view control, panels rotate 180°. 1995K. Ishiguro Unconsoled xxi. 293, I awoke to find bright sunlight pouring in through the vertical blinds. |