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lateral |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Lateral \Lat"er*al\, a. [L. lateralis, fr latus, lateris, side: cf F. lat['e]ral.] 1. Of or pertaining to the sides; as the lateral walls of a house; the lateral branches of a tree. 2. (Anat.) Lying at or extending toward, the side away from the mesial plane; external; -- opposed to {mesial}. 3. Directed to the side as a lateral view of a thing {Lateral cleavage} (Crystallog.), cleavage parallel to the lateral planes. {Lateral equation} (Math.), an equation of the first degree. [Obs.] {Lateral line} (Anat.), in fishes, a line of sensory organs along either side of the body, often marked by a distinct line of color. {Lateral pressure} or {stress} (Mech.), a pressure or stress at right angles to the length, as of a beam or bridge; -- distinguished from longitudinal pressure or stress. {Lateral strength} (Mech.), strength which resists a tendency to fracture arising from lateral pressure. {Lateral system} (Bridge Building), the system of horizontal braces (as between two vertical trusses) by which lateral stiffness is secured. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: lateral adj 1: situated at or extending to the side "the lateral branches of a tree"; "shot out sidelong boughs"- Tennyson [syn: {sidelong}] 2: lying away from the median and sagittal plane of a body; "lateral lemniscus" n : a pass to a receiver upfield from the passer [syn: {lateral pass}]
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