diˈchotomized, ppl. a.
[f. prec. + -ed1.]
1. Divided into two branches: see prec.
| 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 61 Stellate hairs..with 3–4 rays once or twice dichotomised. 1892 Clerke Stud. Homer iv. 87 Beyond the rising-places of the sun, where one branch of his dichotomised Ethiopians dwelt. |
2. Astron. Said of the moon in the phase at which exactly half her disk appears illuminated (the ‘half-moon’).
| 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Dichotomy, She appears dichotomized at least for the space of a whole hour: in which time any moment may be taken for the true point of the dichotomy, as well as any other. 1834 Nat. Philos., Hist. Astron. vi. 24/1 (Useful Knowl. Soc.) The difficulty of determining exactly the instant at which the moon is dichotomized. 1866 Airy Pop. Astron. v. (l868) 167 Observation of the place of the moon when it is ‘dichotomized’. |