polhode

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πόλοδος (pólodos), meaning "path of the pole", from πόλος (pólos, “pole, axis”) + ὁδός (hodós, “way, road”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɒl.hoʊd/

Noun

polhode (plural polhodes)

1. The wobble of a spinning body.
   • 1960, William Duncan MacMillan, Dynamics of rigid bodies, page 210:

     Since the polhodes are the intersection of the surface of the ellipsoid with a cone, Eq. (3), whose apex is at the center of the ellipsoid, and since the cone has two nappes, there are two curves on the ellipsoid for each value of d.