axial, a.
(ˈæksɪəl)
[f. L. axi-s + -al1.]
1. Forming an axis; of the nature of an axis.
| 1849 Murchison Siluria v. 100 The elevation of the axial line being less. 1857 Henfrey Bot. §35 A true or axial root. 1872 Mivart Anat. 25 The skeleton of the head and trunk, which is called the Axial skeleton. 1879 S. Highley in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 313/1 The axial ray. 1879 Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. i. §23 The Cerebrum and the Axial Cord on which it is super-imposed. 1880 Darwin Movem. Pl. 223 Flower-stems..being axial in their nature. |
2. Of, or belonging to, an axis.
| 1859 B. Powell Order Nat. i. §2. 45 Imagined three distinct motions..orbital, rotatory, axial. 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. 237 With its axial direction at right angles to the direction of the slit. 1870 Proctor Other Worlds iii. 61 Axial inclination [of the planets]. |
3. Round, or about, an axis.
| 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. xxii. §170 The axial velocity. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. II. xi. 239 The earth's axial rotation. |
4. Comb. axial flow:
usu. attrib. (with hyphen) (see
quots.);
axial gradient Zool., the gradual change in the intensity of metabolism along any axis of a living organism.
| 1889 G. R. Bodmer Hydraulic Motors: Turbines ii. 33 The mixed-flow has been developed out of the inward-flow turbine by continuing the vanes into that part of the wheel where the water assumes a vertical direction, so that the radial flow is changed into an axial flow. Ibid. 43 Axial-Flow Girard Turbine..has ventilated buckets..widened at the lower end, where the outflow takes place. 1910 Hawkins' Elect. Dict. 25/2 Axial Flow, a term applied to that class of turbine in which the fluid passes through the motor in a direction parallel to its axis... Also termed Parallel flow. 1941 Flight 9 Oct. 242/2 The combustion gases, with an excess of air, are then expanded through an axial-flow gas turbine which drives the main air compressor. 1949 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) ii. 14 Axial-flow compressor, a compressor which functions by the action of alternate rows of fixed and rotating blades, radially mounted; the direction of flow through the compressor being axial. Ibid. 17 Axial-flow turbine, a turbine through which the general direction of flow is axial. |
| 1911 C. M. Child in Jrnl. Exper. Zool. XI. 214 These facts..show very clearly that an axial gradient exists in a large number of organisms and that in many cases at least the apical or anterior region is dominant in regulation. 1926 Axial gradient [see axiate a.]. |