generatrix
(dʒɛnəˈreɪtrɪks)
[a. L. generātrix, fem. agent-n. f. generāre: see generate v.]
† 1. She that generates or produces; a female parent. (Only fig.) Obs.
| 1657 Pinnell tr. Paracelsus' Philos. ii. 32 The element of fire is the generatrix of the Stars, Planets, and the whole Firmament. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. II. 278 Night was called the mother, the generatrix of all things. 1813 T. Busby Lucretius Comm. i. iii, This divine generatrix of every being and every blessing. |
2. Math. = generant A. b.
| 1840 Lardner Geom. 176 A straight edge representing the directrix may be moved over a figure representing the generatrix [etc.]. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. iv. 108 Blended to a screw surface with an inclined generatrix. |
3. ‘A dynamo-electric machine employed to generate an electric current’ (Cent. Dict.). = generator 2.