释义 |
concavity|kənˈkævɪtɪ| [a. F. concavité (14th c.), ad. L. concavitās: see concave and -ity.] 1. The quality or condition of being concave; hollowness.
1578Lyte Dodoens i. xxv. 37 The leafe..is rounde and thicke..With some hollownes or concauitie above. 1605Camden Rem. (1657) 351 A glass of parabolical concavitie, or burning glass, as some call it. 1794G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. II. xv. 187 If the radius of concavity be less than the radius of convexity. 1840Carlyle Heroes (1858) 263 No twisted, poor convex-concave mirror, reflecting all objects with its own convexities and concavities. 1865Geikie Scen. & Geol. Scot. vi. 121 The profound concavity of these valleys. 2. A concave surface or side, a hollow vault; each of the hollow ‘spheres’ of ancient astronomy.
1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 24/2 (R. Supp.) Fro the centre of therthe vnto the concavite of the heuen of Saturne. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. (1872) 47 The regione celest vitht in the concauite of the quhilk is closit the regione elementar. 1561Eden Arte Nauig. i. v. 7 The water and earth..are conteyned vnder the concauitie of the ayre. 1603Drayton Bar. Wars vi. xxxi, An Hemisphere; In whose Concavitie, she did compose The Constellations. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 220 An Hollow-Mandrel, made fit stifly to receive the convexity of the Globe in its concavity. 1868Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 277 An orbit the concavity of which is always turned towards the Sun. 3. A hollow; a cavity.
1513Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 2810 Of the sayd oke tree is a famous opynyon That no man may entre the sayd concauyte In deedly synne bounden. 1578Banister Hist. Man i. 3 These concauities are also encreased by the Gristles in some of them growing. 1634R. H. Salernes Regim. 155 In the concavities of the Teeth. a1652Brome Queene's Exch. v. Wks. 1873 III. 536 Concavities..for Rich men to hide their treasure in. 1848J. A. Carlyle tr. Dante's Inferno vii, We descended into the fourth concavity. †b. The bore of a gun. Obs. Cf. concave n. 1 b.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. 79 How a Shot which sticketh fast within the Concavity of a Piece..may be Shot out. †4. fig. A recondite matter; a profundity.
1650Ashmole Chym. Collect. 27 Bringing confusion and discouragement to the young learner, troubling his mind with so many obseruations and seuerall concauities. 1658Ussher Ann. 191 The more inquisitive and diligent in searching out and describing the concavities of them. |