What does the word axis mean?
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1. A straight line passing through a spherical body between its two poles, and about which the body may revolve. 2. The central line of the body or any of its parts. 3. The spinal column. 4. The central nervous system. 5. The second cervical vertebra, epistropheus. 6. The odontoid process of the epistropheus. 7. An artery which divides, immediately upon its origin, into a number of branches.
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Is also the second vertebra of the neck, Axon, Epistropheus, Epistrophus, Maschalister: Vertebra Dentata, ( F.) Essieu. So called, because it forms a kind of axis on which the head moves.
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[ Latin] Hence also, a line about which a body may be conceived to revolve; any line, straight or curved, about which the parts of a body are symmetrically disposed. A. of the uterus, A. of the pelvis, the line formed by joining the centres of successive transverse sections of the uterus or the pelvis; a line indicative of the direction of the uterine or pelvic cavity. A. of the outlet of the pelvis, A. of the inlet( or brim) of the pelvis, lines drawn perpendicular respectively to the planes of the outlet and of the inlet of the pelvis, and passing through the centres of these planes. Optical a. of the eye, a line passing through the centre of the cornea and bisecting the eye. Visual a. of the eye, the line passing through the nodal point of the eye and macula lutea. A. ( or principal a.) of a lens or mirror, the line passing through both the centre of curvature and the focus of the lens or mirror. Secondary a., a line, oblique to the principal a., passing through the nodal point of a lens or the centre of curvature of a mirror. A. of astigmatism, see Astigmatism.
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Usage examples for axis
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None of the real proofs for the earth's rotation upon its axis were known at the time of Galileo, nor were there direct conclusive arguments for the earth's moving around the sun. – Catholic Churchmen in Science by James J. Walsh
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The Earth, as every one knows, whirls rapidly on its axis from west to east. – The Ocean and its Wonders by R.M. Ballantyne
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