pyramidaladj.n.
/pᵻˈramᵻdl/, /ˌpɪrəˈmɪdl/, U.S. /pəˈræməd(ə)l/, /ˌpɪrəˈmɪd(ə)l/ A. adj.
1. Of or relating to a pyramid or pyramids; sloping, as an edge or face of a pyramid.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > inclination > [adjective] > inclined from level or sloping
pyramidala1398
shoringc1503
slopec1503
pitching1519
current?1523
battering1589
pitched1594
aslope1599
sloping1610
shelving1615
stooping1621
raking1665
sloped1683
shedding1688
slopy1740
raked1948
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 329v If the chief syde or basis is fyue cornered, þe triangle piramis þat riseþ may presente fyue triangles vpon þat basis as it fareþ in apiramydale [L. piramidali] figure..and in þe piramydal triangle þre manere triangle may be y-founde as þe corners þerof ben þre.
?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) iii. viii. sig. R j v The Pyramidall side HB.
1698 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 20 441 All within the inner Pyramidal Line is on a Plane equidistant from the Reverse.
1845 N. P. Willis From Saratoga in Misc. Wks. (1849) 99 We fell to speculating on what it was that made us think..of the pyramids!.. We did, nor noted, nothing pyramidal yesterday.
1857 J. G. Wilkinson Egyptians 151 The pyramidal, or sloping, line was intended to insure the durability of a wall.
1884 N.Y. Times 1 Feb. 4/4 The number of those who possess the pyramidal faith is by no means small.
1952 Perspecta 1 31/1 The lines converging at any one vertex all leading away below the point on the surface, must form a convex intersection or a pyramidal point.
2005 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 25 June r5 In ancient Egypt..only the pharaohs and royal families were embalmed and mummified in pyramidal tombs.
2.
a. Of the nature or shape of a pyramid; resembling a pyramid. Also figurative or in figurative context (cf. pyramid n. 8).inversely pyramidal: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > angularity > specific angular shape > [adjective] > triangular > pyramidal or triangular in section
pyramidalc1450
trigonal1571
pyramidate1572
pyramidical1599
pyramidy1627
pyramical1633
triangular1644
pyramidated1745
triquetrous1752
trihedral angle1789
pyramoidal1883
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > shape or figure > [adjective] > three-dimensional > conical > pyramidal
pyramidalc1450
pyramidate1572
pyramidical1599
pyramidy1627
pyramical1633
pyramidoidal1807
pyramoidal1883
c1450 J. Capgrave Solace of Pilgrims (Bodl. 423) (1911) 24 This is þe priramydall [read piramydall] memorie of þis noble conqwerour to whom was not ȝoue so grete worchip aftir his deth with outen notable dedis in his lyff.
1563 W. Fulke Meteors f. 11 Of the Pyramidall pyller lyke a spire or broched steeple.
1599 T. Moffett Silkewormes 45 A Pyramidall and most steepe hil.
1641 J. Milton Reason Church-govt. 25 Prelaty if she will seek to close up divisions in the Church, must be forc't to dissolve, and unmake her own pyramidal figure.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. i. 53 Plato..would compound the Earth of Cubical, and Fire of Pyramidal Atoms, and the like.
1712 J. Henley tr. B. de Montfaucon Trav. Italy xxvii. 436 In the street before the church there are many Pyramidal tombs.
1785 W. Cowper Task vi. 159 The Lilac various in array,..With purple spikes pyramidal.
1843 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 13 308 Small, sharp, stony ridges predominate, with crests surmounted by conical and pyramidal peaks.
1872 W. Minto Man. Eng. Prose Lit. ii. v. 368 That the most stable government is the pyramidal,—that rests on the widest basis of popular confidence.
1956 Life 2 Apr. 69/1 Its central institution was the feudal system, a pyramidal social structure in which each man was the vassal of a man above him.
1978 J. Updike Coup (1979) vi. 224 Opuku's round bald skull, connected to the mass of his shoulders by a glistening pyramidal neck.
1995 Aramco World Nov.–Dec. 16/1 (caption) The pyramidal minaret of the Sankoré Mosque marks what was once the leading center of Islamic scholarship in Africa.
b. figurative. Extremely great or grand; monumental, colossal. Now rare. N.E.D. (1909) notes: ‘in journalistic use’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > vast, immense, or huge
un-i-fohOE
ormeteOE
hugea1275
un-i-feiec1275
infinitec1385
ponderousa1400
hugeful1413
hugyc1420
thrice1470
felon?a1500
hugeousa1529
enormous1544
enormc1560
fell1586
prodigious1601
immensive1604
colossic1607
monumental1632
vast1637
unfathomed1659
colossal1664
ponderose1680
heroic1785
colossian1794
pyramidal1849
astronomical1871
astronomic1923
stratospheric1932
cosmic1935
ginormous1942
galactic1960
mega1968
humongous1970
1827 Countess Granville Lett. (1894) I. 432 Madame de Montjoie has just told me that Miss Foote's success is pyramidale.]
1849 Edinb. Rev. July–Oct. 75 Even the great—the illustrious—the pyramidal Dumas himself, translates Hamlet à ses heures perdues.
1861 O. W. Holmes Elsie Venner xxi. 71 With Helen Darley as a foil..she must be foudroyant and pyramidal.
1885 W. D. Howells in Harper's Mag. July 276/1 Such pyramidal antiquity [of an elderly man].
1902 Westm. Gaz. 16 Aug. 3/2 The pyramidal ignorance of the average Englishman concerning the great Republic and her institutions.
1993 Independent (Nexis) 11 May 18 The film came in at two and a half times its budget and was a flop of pyramidal proportions.
3. Specific technical senses.† c. Zoology. Designating certain fishes in which the body has a more or less pyramid-like shape, as the trunkfish Tetrosomus gibbosus. Obsolete. rare.† e. Crystallography. = tetragonal adj. 5. Obsolete.
a. Anatomy and Zoology. Designating structures of roughly pyramidal, conical, or triangular shape. Cf. pyramid n. 6, pyramidalis n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > shape > [adjective] > pyramid
pyramidal1615
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 798 The Pyramidall Muscles, so called from their forme like a Pyramis or Broch, arising from the outside of the sharebone.
1668 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) i. xxi. 53 This Intertexture of Veins and Arteries..is by some called Corpus varicosum, pampiniform, Pyramidal.
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Nose The Nostrils are dilated by six Muscles, three on each Side, viz. the pyramidal, oblique Ascendant or Myrtiformis, and the oblique descendant.
1793 J. Bell Anat. Bones, Muscles, & Joints ii. vi. 312 The pyramidal muscle is the only one named from its shape.
1826 Lancet 20 May 242/2 The true decussation of the pyramidal bodies was first described by Mistichelli in 1709.
1872 C. Darwin Expression Emotions Man & Animals vii. 190 The pyramidal muscle serves to draw down the skin of the forehead between the eyebrows, together with their inner extremities.
1913 Cunningham's Text-bk. Anat. (ed. 4) 1347 In about 40 per cent of specimens a process of [thyroid] gland tissue, the pyramidal lobe, extends from the upper border of the isthmus.
1965 J. D. Carthy Behaviour of Arthropods i. 5 (caption) A pyramidal neuron from the sensori-motor cortex of a cat.
1997 Clin. Nucl. Med. 22 451 The frequency of pyramidal lobe visualization in patients with Graves' disease differed significantly from the frequency in patients with multifocal or disseminated autonomously functioning nodules.
b. Botany. Designating various plants or trees which are pyramid-shaped or have a pyramid-like or conical inflorescence or stem (usually translating the specific epithet pyramidalis).Esp. in pyramidal orchid, orchis: see Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > flower or flowering plant > [adjective] > having flowers or blossom > of specific size, form, or arrangement
chaliceda1616
umbelliferous1668
umbellated1731
pyramidal1777
umbellate1785
starry-eyed1793
umbellal1836
hoop-petticoated1837
grandiflora1839
belleda1849
mop-headed1862
geminiflorous1866
notch-flowered1885
multiflora1934
1777 J. Lightfoot Flora Scotica I. 303 [Ajuga pyramidalis] Pyramidal or Mountain Bugle. Anglis.
1796 C. Marshall Gardening (1798) xix. 355 Saxifrage plants are usually potted to move into the house..as indeed the pyramidal in particular should be.
1811 D. Hosack Hortus Elginensis (ed. 2) 39 Star of Bethlehem..pyramidal.
1852 Daily Democrat (Milwaukee, Wisc.) 13 May 3/3 Those who cannot afford the expense of lightning conductors to their houses..should plant near them late growing trees, such as the pyramidal oak (Quercus pedunculate pyramidalis).
1932 R. Fisher Eng. Names Wild Flowers ii. 251 Pyramidal Bramble (Rubus pyramidalis).
1973 Winnipeg Free Press 7 June 7/1 The pyramidal cedar is often used effectively to frame home entrances.
2001 Sunday Times (Nexis) 29 Apr. The Aran Islands are known for their flora and fauna, which include some rare plant species, such as burnet rose, pyramidal bugle, blue moor-grass and wood small reed.
ΚΠ
1804 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. V. 390 Pyramidal Sucker. Cyclopterus pyramidatus.
1804 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. V. 425 Pyramidal Trunk-fish. Ostracion Turritus.
d. Ophthalmology. Designating a cataract of conical or pyramidal form, esp. one of the anterior part of the lens, often protruding into the anterior chamber.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > [adjective] > other disorders of eye
pyramidal1821
photophobic1855
buphthalmic1896
phacoanaphylactic1922
1821 G. C. Monteath tr. C. H. Weller Man. Dis. Human Eye I. 254 The Pyramidal Capsulo-lenticular Cataract..is always the effect of a violent inflammation of the eyeball, and is distinguished from others, particularly by a white, almost glistening, pyramidal-shaped growth.
1884 H. R. Swanzy Handbk. Dis. Eye iv. 103 This condition is called central capsular cataract, or pyramidal cataract.
1972 Brit. Jrnl. Ophthalmol. 56 57 The anterior lens cortex beneath the pyramidal cataract is commonly affected by one or more disc-shaped opacities.
1996 Canad. Jrnl. Ophthalmol. 31 135/2 Anterior pyramidal cataracts are thought to be produced by proliferation of the anterior capsule epithelium.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > crystallography (general) > crystal (general) > crystal systems > [adjective] > pyramidal
pyramidal1828
1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. II. 482 Fundamental forms of minerals... The Pyramidal, in which the crystals assume the form of an isosceles four-sided pyramid.
1866 Proc. Royal Soc. 15 12 The adamantine boron of Wöhler and Deville..crystallizes in forms belonging to the pyramidal system.
f. Anatomy, Zoology, and Medicine. Of, relating to, or connected with the pyramids of the medulla oblongata (esp. in pyramidal tract n. at Compounds 2); of or relating to the pyramidal tracts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [adjective] > medulla oblongata > parts of or associated with
postpyramidal1857
pyramidal1857
parolivary1890
1857 W. S. Kirkes Man. Physiol. 339 The restiform bodies are separated from each other posteriorly by two narrow columns, the posterior pyramids, or posterior pyramidal tracts, one on each side of the posterior fissure.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 732 The changes in the cortex begin at a stage prior to the myelination of the pyramidal fibres.
1935 Ann. Rep. London Co. Council 1933 IV. iii. 144 Strauss found that the range and violence of the prime movements were greatly increased in patients with states of spasticity from pyramidal disease.
1968 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 114 780/1 The patient exhibited moderately severe clinical dementia with accompanying long-tract (pyramidal) signs.
1974 D. Webster & M. Webster Compar. Vertebr. Morphol. xii. 290 In humans and possibly other mammals this can be controlled to a degree by volitional corticospinal activity (the pyramidal system).
1991 Pulse 6 Apr. 41/1 The most common motor symptoms in MS [= multiple sclerosis] are due to lesions in the pyramidal and cerebellar pathways.
4. Mathematics. Designating any of a series of numbers beginning with unity, whose nth term is the sum of the first n terms of a series of polygonal numbers, each of which can be represented by balls arranged according to a certain rule in the form of a pyramid on the corresponding polygonal base.The series of triangular numbers (1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21,…) gives, by summation of successive terms, the series of triangular pyramidal numbers (1, 4, 10, 20, 35, 56…). Similarly from the series of square, pentagonal, etc., numbers are obtained corresponding series of pyramidal numbers. The pyramidal numbers are variously regarded as the second or third order of figurate numbers (see figurate adj. 3b); the term was formerly also used (with ordinal numeral) for the succeeding orders of figurate numbers, each obtained similarly from the preceding order by continued summation (see quot. 1795 at sense B. 2). In quot. a1690 the term is irregularly used to designate a triangular number.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > produced in a certain way > figurate or polygonal
figural1551
figurate1614
figurated1642
pyramidala1690
polygonal1704
a1690 S. Jeake Λογιστικηλογία (1696) 663 Six is called the first Pyramidal Number; for the Units therein may be so placed, as to represent a Pyramis.
1708 tr. J. Ozanam Recreations Math. & Physical 37 The Pyramidal Numbers 1, 4, 10, 20, &c. form'd by the continual addition of the Triangular.
1795 C. Hutton Math. & Philos. Dict. Pyramidal Numbers, are the sums of polygonal numbers, collected after the same manner as the polygonal numbers themselves are found from arithmetical progressions.
1806 C. Hutton Course Math. (ed. 5) I. 224 Column c contains the sum of the triangular numbers, that is, the shot contained in a triangular pile, commonly called pyramidal numbers.
1962 Math. Computation 16 485 It was..noted upon examining a decimal print-out of the first 25,000 pyramidal numbers that the last digit repeated itself in a cycle of 20.
1987 Austral. Personal Computer Sept. 293/2 22 is a Polygonal Number of the third sequence and also a Pyramidal Number of the fourth sequence.
B. n.
1.
a. A pyramid. Now historical and rare.Quot. 1967 is from a poem about William Stukeley (see quot. 1740).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > angularity > specific angular shape > [noun] > triangle > figure made up of triangles > pyramid
pyramidalc1450
pyramid1570
c1450 in Mod. Philol. (1924) 21 393 (MED) Ha beaute ha youthe ere cheyned I fere In hyr mekely nek bothe white and clere Lyke a piler polysshed marbelyn, Snowysshe white, vpryght, streght as a lyne Of piramidal or mathymatyk.
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 768 There should arise equalities of sides..in those solide square bodies, which were called Octaedra and Eicosaedra..: likewise in pyramidals and cubes.
1740 W. Stukeley Stonehenge 5 All the greater stones are of that sort, except the altar... The pyramidals likewise are of a different sort, and much harder than the rest.
1967 R. Johnson Bk. of Green Man 72 Round it is another concentric circle of a 50 foot diameter made all of pyramidal greens, at an equal interval... The pyramidals are in imitation of Stone-henge's inner circles.
b. Chiefly Military. Short for pyramidal tent n. at Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1945 M. D. Elevitch Let. 15 July in Dog Tags Yapping (2003) v. 160 Right now the jerries live in the pyramidals and are enjoying more freedoms than ever.
1995 D. M. Schneider & R. Handler Schneider on Schneider vi. 97 First I had a small tent. Then the typhoons came along, and I got two sixteen-by-sixteen pyramidals.
2. Mathematics. A pyramidal number. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > produced in a certain way > figurate or polygonal > used to form a pyramid
pyramidal1706
1706 W. Jones Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos 165 Pyramidals having their Names from their Number of Sides.
1795 C. Hutton Math. & Philos. Dict. at Pyramidal Numbers These are particularly called First Pyramidals. The sums of First Pyramidals are called Second Pyramidals;..and so on. Particularly, those arising from triangular numbers, are called Prime Triangular Pyramidals.
1987 Austral. Personal Computer Sept. 293/2 Algorithms to represent ‘graphically’ the Polygonal Numbers and then the Pyramidals.
Compounds
C1.
pyramidal-shaped adj.
ΚΠ
a1814 M. Flinders Narr. Voy. in Schooner Francis (1946) 75 We came up, at four o'clock, with a small, rocky, ragged, pyramidal-shaped island.
1929 Classical Jrnl. 24 344 Numerous examples of reticulate work are found—concrete with small pyramidal shaped stones imbedded in it.
1994 Jrnl. Entomol. Sci. 29 18 An inexpensive pyramidal-shaped trap was designed and demonstrated to effectively monitor the emergence of pecan weevil adults.
C2.
pyramidal cell n. Histology a type of neuron found in the cerebral cortex, having a cell body that is triangular in section, with an apical and several lateral dendrites and a basal axon.
ΚΠ
1863 Proc. Royal Soc. 1862–3 12 717 Two, three, four, or more processes spring from the broader ends of the pyramidal cells.
1949 H. W. C. Vines Green's Man. Pathol. (ed. 17) xxxviii. 1102 The most characteristic lesion of this kind is the secondary descending degeneration arising from destruction of the pyramidal cells of the motor area.
1994 Guardian 14 July (OnLine section) 13/5 Crick proposes that consciousness may have something to do with one kind of neurone called the ‘pyramidal cell’.
pyramidal number n. see sense A. 4.
pyramidal orchid n. the orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis, which produces dense conical spikes of bright pink flowers, occurring chiefly in calcareous grassland in Europe and North Africa.
ΚΠ
1925 C. B. Tahourdin Native Orchids of Brit. 31 The Pyramidal Orchid. (Orchis pyramidalis.) So called from the almost invariably pyramid form of the flower spike.
1951 V. S. Summerhayes Wild Orchids Brit. iii. 51 The pyramidal orchid is a very beautiful example of perfect adjustment to pollination by butterflies and moths.
1997 Guardian 8 July i. 18/7 Best of all were the six pyramidal orchids, extremely rare in Cheshire, which..had only previously produced one plant each year.
pyramidal orchis n. [after scientific Latin Orchis pyramidalis ( Linnaeus Species Plantarum (1753) 940)] now rare = pyramidal orchid n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > orchids > marsh or spotted orchis
marish dogstones1597
pyramidal orchis1774
marsh orchis1807
gymnadenia1813
1774 J. Hill Veg. Syst. XXIV. 26 Pyramidal Orchis... This is a Perennial, native of our high pastures; a handsome Plant, of near a foot in heighth.
1858 A. Irvine Illustr. Handbk. Brit. Plants 316 Pyramidal Orchis... Flowers in a very dense, short, ovate spike, of a beautiful rose colour.
1926 Times 17 June 17/5 Bee orchis and fragrant orchis and the prim little purple pyramidal orchis are sometimes abundant among the short wild haycrop.
pyramidal tent n. Chiefly Military = pyramid tent at pyramid n. 3b.
ΚΠ
1837 Times 1 June 4/6 Behind those grass works stand two rows of pyramidal tents, surrounded by tricoloured flags, in which the muskets of the men are piled in fasces.
1991 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 4 Dec. b4/3 Repeat offenders would be housed in inexpensive pyramidal tents with kerosene heaters... Millions of us in the military shared such quarters without griping.
pyramidal tract n. Anatomy a major bundle of nerve fibres connecting motor areas of the cerebral cortex with the lower motor neurons of the spinal cord, and forming the pyramid on the ventral surface of the medulla oblongata.
ΚΠ
1857 W. S. Kirkes Man. Physiol. 339 The restiform bodies are separated from each other posteriorly by two narrow columns, the posterior pyramids, or posterior pyramidal tracts, one on each side of the posterior fissure.
1945 Penguin New Biol. 1 57 In mammals there is a direct pathway of communication, the pyramidal tract, from neurons of the cerebral hemisphere to the motor neurons of the spinal cord.
1990 Lancet 8 Sept. 602/1 Tremor and pyramidal tract signs, particularly brisk reflexes with or without extensor plantar responses, are found in many patients.
Derivatives
pyˈramidalist n. a pyramidist, a pyramidologist.
ΚΠ
1877 R. A. Proctor Myths & Marvels Astron. 52 The facts most confidently urged by pyramidalists in support of their views.
1882 R. A. Proctor Great Pyramid i. 11 Taylor, Smyth, and the Pyramidalists generally, consider this sufficient to prove that the pyramid was erected for some purpose connected with religion.
1992 Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo) (Nexis) 15 Apr. 3 In Britain, academics who study pyramids are called ‘pyramidalists’.
ΚΠ
1857 A. J. Davis Magic Staff xlvi. 371 First look for the caption ‘Architecture’; then look directly beneath into the second line, and there you will find the word ‘Pyramidalism.’
1883 Science 9 Nov. 625/1 The following is in brief the history of pyramidalism.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adj.n.a1398