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prismmore about prism

prism

 

  5  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Prism  \Prism\  (pr[i^]z'm),  n.  [L.  prisma,  Gr  pri`sma,  fr 
  pri`zein,  pri`ein,  to  saw:  cf  F.  prisme.] 
  1.  (Geom.)  A  solid  whose  bases  or  ends  are  any  similar, 
  equal,  and  parallel  plane  figures,  and  whose  sides  are 
  parallelograms. 
 
  Note:  Prisms  of  different  forms  are  often  named  from  the 
  figure  of  their  bases;  as  a  triangular  prism,  a 
  quadrangular  prism,  a  rhombic  prism,  etc 
 
  2.  (Opt.)  A  transparent  body,  with  usually  three  rectangular 
  plane  faces  or  sides,  and  two  equal  and  parallel 
  triangular  ends  or  bases;  --  used  in  experiments  on 
  refraction,  dispersion,  etc 
 
  3.  (Crystallog.)  A  form  the  planes  of  which  are  parallel  to 
  the  vertical  axis.  See  {Form},  n.,  13. 
 
  {Achromatic  prism}  (Opt.),  a  prism  composed  usually  of  two 
  prisms  of  different  transparent  substances  which  have 
  unequal  dispersive  powers,  as  two  different  kinds  of 
  glass,  especially  flint  glass  and  crown  glass,  the 
  difference  of  dispersive  power  being  compensated  by  giving 
  them  different  refracting  angles,  so  that  when  placed 
  together  so  as  to  have  opposite  relative  positions,  a  ray 
  of  light  passed  through  them  is  refracted  or  bent  into  a 
  new  position,  but  is  free  from  color. 
 
  {Nicol's  prism},  {Nicol  prism}.  [So  called  from  Wm  Nicol,  of 
  Edinburgh,  who  first  proposed  it.]  (Opt.)  An  instrument 
  for  experiments  in  polarization,  consisting  of  a  rhomb  of 
  Iceland  spar,  which  has  been  bisected  obliquely  at  a 
  certain  angle,  and  the  two  parts  again  joined  with 
  transparent  cement,  so  that  the  ordinary  image  produced  by 
  double  refraction  is  thrown  out  of  the  field  by  total 
  reflection  from  the  internal  cemented  surface,  and  the 
  extraordinary,  or  polarized,  image  alone  is  transmitted. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  prism 
  n  1:  a  polyhedron  with  two  congruent  and  parallel  faces  (the 
  bases)  and  whose  lateral  faces  are  parallelograms 
  2:  triangular  shape  and  made  of  glass  or  quartz;  used  to 
  deviate  a  beam  or  invert  an  image  [syn:  {optical  prism}] 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  PRISM 
 
  A  distributed  {logic  language}. 
 
  ["PRISM:  A  Parallel  Inference  System  for  Problem  Solving", 
  S.  Kasif  et  al  Proc  1983  Logic  Prog  Workshop,  pp  123-152]. 
 
 
 
  From  V.E.R.A.  --  Virtual  Entity  of  Relevant  Acronyms  13  March  2001  [vera]: 
 
  PRISM 
  Parallel  Reduced  Instruction  Set  Multiprocessing 
 
 
 
  From  V.E.R.A.  --  Virtual  Entity  of  Relevant  Acronyms  13  March  2001  [vera]: 
 
  PRISM 
  PRogrammed  Integrated  System  Maintenance




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