hexagon
(ˈhɛksəgən)
[ad. late L. hexagōn-um, a. Gr. ἑξάγων-ον, neut. sing. of ἑξάγωνος six-cornered, f. ἕξ six + -γωνος, f. stem of γωνία angle. Cf. F. hexagone.]
1. Geom. A plane figure having six sides and six angles. (Loosely said of bodies of hexagonal section.)
| 1570 Billingsley Euclid iv. xvi. 124 We may in a Hexagon geuen either describe or circumscribe a circle. [1571 Digges Pantom. iii. viii. R j a, By the rules giuen in Planimetra, yee shall finde the area of the lesser Hexagonum.] 1691 Ray Creation i. (R.), The space about any point may be filled up either by six equilateral triangles, or four squares, or three hexagons. 1788 Reid Act. Powers iii. ii. (R.), Bees..make their cells regular hexagons. 1860 Farrar Orig. Lang. i. 13 The waxen hexagon of the bee. |
b. attrib. or adj. = hexagonal.
| 1754 R. Pococke Trav. (1889) II. 72 Two hexagon towers. 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 765 Hexagon and octagon Gothic fonts. |
2. Fortif. A fort with six bastions.
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. 5 Let the Fort be an Hexagon, that is, of six Bastions. 1727–41 in Chambers Cycl. |
Hence ˈhexagonize v. [cf. Gr. ἑξαγωνίζ-ειν], trans. to make into a hexagon, to render hexagonal.
| 1885 J. M. Cowper Our Parish Bks. II. 42 Some..church⁓warden..seems to have endeavoured to ‘hexagonise’ the font by chipping off some of its corners. |