epicycle
See also: épicycle
English edit
Etymology edit
From Latin epicyclus, from Ancient Greek ἐπίκυκλος (epíkuklos), from ἐπί (epí, “upon”) + κύκλος (kúklos, “circle”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
epicycle (plural epicycles)
- (astronomy) A small circle whose centre is on the circumference of a larger circle; in Ptolemaic astronomy it was seen as the basis of revolution of the "seven planets", given a fixed central Earth.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.155:
- Is it not [Philosophie], that […] teacheth miserie, famine and sicknesse to laugh? Not by reason of some imaginarie Epicicles, but by naturall and palpable reasons.
- (geometry) Any circle whose circumference rolls around that of another circle, thus creating a hypocycloid or epicycloid.
- (organic chemistry) A ring of atoms joining parts of an already cyclic compound
- (figuratively) An ad hoc complication added to a model to make it fit the known data
- 1978, The Journal of the Siam Society, volumes 66-67, page 152:
- If two chronicles seemed contradictory, instead of trying to choose between them, a rationalization (epicycle) was devised to cover both.
- 1998, Paul Joseph Kelly, Impartiality, Neutrality and Justice: Re-reading Brian Barry’s Justice as Impartiality, page 12:
- Rather than solve the theoretical problem of how to produce a method of political ethics, the contractarian device introduces an unnecessary theoretical epicycle into what is otherwise a coherent account of social justice in particular and political morality in general.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
a small circle whose centre is on the circumference of a larger circle
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any circle whose circumference rolls around that of another circle
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.