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eccentricity

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eccentricity

 

  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Eccentricity  \Ec`cen*tric"i*ty\,  n.;  pl  {Eccentricities}.  [Cf. 
  F.  excentricit['e].] 
  1.  The  state  of  being  eccentric;  deviation  from  the  customary 
  line  of  conduct;  oddity. 
 
  2.  (Math.)  The  ratio  of  the  distance  between  the  center  and 
  the  focus  of  an  ellipse  or  hyperbola  to  its 
  semi-transverse  axis. 
 
  3.  (Astron.)  The  ratio  of  the  distance  of  the  center  of  the 
  orbit  of  a  heavenly  body  from  the  center  of  the  body  round 
  which  it  revolves  to  the  semi-transverse  axis  of  the 
  orbit. 
 
  4.  (Mech.)  The  distance  of  the  center  of  figure  of  a  body,  as 
  of  an  eccentric,  from  an  axis  about  which  it  turns;  the 
  throw. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  eccentricity 
  n  1:  strange  and  unconventional  behavior 
  2:  (geometry)  a  ratio  describing  the  shape  of  a  conic  section; 
  the  ratio  of  the  distance  between  the  foci  to  the  length 
  of  the  major  axis;  "a  circle  is  an  ellipse  with  zero 
  eccentricity" 
  3:  a  circularity  that  has  a  different  center  or  deviates  from  a 
  circular  path  [ant:  {concentricity}] 
 
  From  THE  DEVIL'S  DICTIONARY  ((C)1911  Released  April  15  1993)  [devils]: 
 
  ECCENTRICITY,  n.  A  method  of  distinction  so  cheap  that  fools  employ 
  it  to  accentuate  their  incapacity.




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