spiral : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: spiral	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for spiral
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
spiral adj in the shape of a coil [syn: coiling, helical, spiral, spiraling, volute, voluted, whorled, turbinate] n a plane curve traced by a point circling about the center but at increasing distances from the center a curve that lies on the surface of a cylinder or cone and cuts the element at a constant angle Synonym(s): helix, spiral a continuously accelerating change in the economy ornament consisting of a curve on a plane that winds around a center with an increasing distance from the center Synonym(s): spiral, volute a structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops; "a coil of rope" Synonym(s): coil, spiral, volute, whorl, helix flying downward in a helical path with a large radius v to wind or move in a spiral course; "the muscles and nerves of his fine drawn body were coiling for action"; "black smoke coiling up into the sky"; "the young people gyrated on the dance floor" Synonym(s): gyrate, spiral, coil form a spiral; "The path spirals up the mountain" move in a spiral or zigzag course Synonym(s): corkscrew, spiral
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Spiral \Spi"ral\, a. [Cf. F. spiral. See {Spire} a winding line.] 1. Winding or circling round a center or pole and gradually receding from it; as, the spiral curve of a watch spring. 2. Winding round a cylinder or imaginary axis, and at the same time rising or advancing forward; winding like the thread of a screw; helical. 3. (Geom.) Of or pertaining to a spiral; like a spiral. {Spiral gear}, [or] {Spiral wheel} (Mach.), a gear resembling in general a spur gear, but having its teeth cut at an angle with its axis, or so that they form small portions of screws or spirals. {Spiral gearing}, a kind of gearing sometimes used in light machinery, in which spiral gears, instead of bevel gears, are used to transmit motion between shafts that are not parallel. {Spiral operculum}, an operculum whih has spiral lines of growth. {Spiral shell}, any shell in which the whorls form a spiral or helix. {Spiral spring}. See the Note under {Spring}, n., 4.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Spiral \Spi"ral\, n. [Cf. F. spirale. See {Spiral}, a.] 1. (Geom.) A plane curve, not re[89]ntrant, described by a point, called the generatrix, moving along a straight line according to a mathematical law, while the line is revolving about a fixed point called the pole. Cf. {Helix}. 2. Anything which has a spiral form, as a spiral shell. {Equiangular spiral},a plane curve which cuts all its generatrices at the same angle. Same as {Logarithmic spiral}, under {Logarithmic}. {Spiral of Archimedes}, a spiral the law of which is that the generatrix moves uniformly along the revolving line, which also moves uniformly.