geodetic, a. and n.
(dʒiːəʊˈdɛtɪk)
Also 7 geodaetick.
[as if ad. L. *geōdætic-us, a. Gr. *γεωδαιτικός, f. γῆ earth + δαίειν to divide.]
A. adj. a. Of or pertaining to geodesy. geodetic line (see quot. 1879).
| 1834 Nat. Philos., Astron. xiii. 253/1 (U.K.S.) Those great geodetic operations which have been undertaken to determine the figure of the earth. 1879 Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §132 If the shortest possible line be drawn from one point of a surface to another, its plane of curvature is everywhere perpendicular to the surface. Such a curve is called a Geodetic line. 1880 Nature XXI. 197 Geographical and topographical work such as had been carried on by the Coast and Geodetic Surveys and the Land Office. |
b. geodetic construction (see quot. 1950); geodetic dome = geodesic dome.
| 1936 Jrnl. Aeronaut. Sci. Dec. 78/1 The multitudinous fittings employed in the geodetic construction..add much to the weight and cost of the structure. 1950 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) 3105 Geodetic construction, a method of making curved space frames in which the particular structural members follow geodesics in the surface, the curves being designed in such a manner that the forces set up in the members are either tension or compression. 1958 New Scientist 15 May 27/2 The airship embodied Wallis's first essay in geodetic construction, and it was a complete success. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Nov. p. xxx/5 With his geodetic domes and his synergetic geometry..he [sc. Buckminster Fuller] is designing..methods of enclosing space that others may one day make into an architecture. 1970 K. Platt Pushbutton Butterfly (1971) viii. 84 The house..was a series of geodetic domes clustered igloo-like beneath the main house. |
B. n. (the adj. used absolutely).
† 1. pl. ‘Geodetical’ numbers: see geodetical 2.
| 1674 S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 62 The smaller Geodaeticks arise from such of the greater as admit of subdivisions. |
2. A geodetic line (see quot. 1879 in A).
| 1879 Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §137 There must..be tortuosity in every geodetic of the closed polygon. |
3. in pl. form geodetics = geodesy.
| In mod. Dicts. |