▪ I. sphere, n.
(sfɪə(r))
Forms: α. 4–5 sper (5 sperre), speere, 4–6 spere, 6 Sc. speir, speyr; 4–5 spire, 5 spyere, Sc. spir. β. 5– sphere (5 sphyre), 6–7 sphear(e, 7 spheere; 6–7 sphær, 7 sphære, sphaer(e.
[ad. OF. espere (13th c.), later sphere (mod.F. sphère) or late L. sphēra, earlier sphæra, ad. Gr. σϕαῖρα ball. So It. sfera, Sp. and Pg. esfera; MDu. spere, speer (Du. sfeer), MHG. spære, spere (G. sphäre).]
I. 1. a. The apparent outward limit of space, conceived as a hollow globe enclosing (and at all points equidistant from) the earth; the visible vault of heaven, in which the celestial bodies appear to have their place.
oblique sphere, parallel sphere, right sphere: see oblique a. 2 b, parallel a. 1 b, right a. 3 a.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1548 Quen sa fele yeier ar wroken oute þe mikel spere [Gött. spire] es rune aboute. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4867 Alle þe fire þat es in þe spere, And under erthe, and aboven erthe here. c 1430 Lydg. Life our Lady (Harl. MS. 629) fol. 43 b, As the svnne dothe in heuen shyne In mydday speere dovn to vs by-lyne. c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 1186 The mery day sprang fra the oryent... Heich in the sper, the signes maid declayr. 1513 Douglas æneid iii. viii. 13 Or [= ere] the speir his owris rollit rycht Sa far about that it wes skars mydnycht. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. x. 56 He wondred much..What stately building durst so high extend Her loftie towres vnto the starry sphere. 1634 Milton Comus 241 Sweet Echo,..Sweet Queen of Parly, Daughter of the Sphear. 1655 Vaughan Silex Scint. (1858) 135 If a star Should leave the sphære. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 352 The highest Heaven with all its imagined Circle[s], is called the Sphere. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 204 The face of Nature shines, from where earth seems, Far stretch'd around, to meet the bending sphere. 1847 Tennyson Princ. iii. 89 But I An eagle clang an eagle to the sphere. 1854 Tomlinson Arago's Astron. 17 They had remarked that, amidst the general movement of the sphere, one of the stars of the Lesser Bear appeared always to remain in the same position. |
| fig. 1608 Chapman Dk. of Byron iii. i. 155 When I appear'd from battle, the whole sphere And full sustainer of the state we bear. a 1711 Ken Psyche Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 204 God is our circumambient Sphere. |
b. A material representation of the apparent form of the heavens; a globe or other construction illustrating the place and motions of the celestial bodies. (See also
armillary a.)
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §26 The excellence of the spere solide..shewyth Manifeste the diuerse assenciouns of signes in diuerse places. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxv. 115 Sum has..astrolabres of gold, sum speres of precious stanes. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1039 Whan I shall teche you the spere. 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 73 Set your Sphere before you, and first turn it so that bothe the Poles may touch the Horizont. 1674 Moxon Tutor to Astron. & Geog. (ed. 3) App. 201 As a Sphear is an Astronomical Instrument, it is a complication of material Circles only, so fitted together that they represent all the imaginary Circles and motions of the eighth Sphear, and the Circles and motions of all the Planets about the Earth. 1701 ― Math. Instr. 19 Sphere, made of Silver or Brass Hoops, or Rings, representing the Principal Circles of the Sphere (called a material Sphere). 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. I. 341 They had the use of the sphere, and were acquainted with the zodiac. 1821 Turner Arts & Sci. 172 He [Atlas] was..the first who represented the world by a sphere. 1864 Spencer Illust. Progress 172 Then came the sphere of Berosus,..and the quadrant of Ptolemy. |
2. a. One or other of the concentric, transparent, hollow globes imagined by the older astronomers as revolving round the earth and respectively carrying with them the several heavenly bodies (moon, sun, planets, and fixed stars).
The number of these was originally supposed to be eight, subsequently increased to nine and finally to ten by the addition of the
primum mobile and the
crystalline sphere (see
crystalline a. 5).
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1809 His lighte gost ful blysfully is went Vp to þe holwghnesse of þe seuenþe spere. c 1381 ― Parl. Foules 59 After shewede he hym the nyne speris. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 65 Yn ordynance of þe heuens and of þe speres, and þe disposicioun of þe planetes. c 1450 Treat. Astrol. (MS. Ashm. 337) 8 b, In the firmament above the viij spere there is a brode cercle ful of sterris. ? a 1533 Frith Answ. More (1548) 62 Y⊇ hyghest sphere.. with his swift mouying doth violently drawe the inferiour Spheares with him. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 10 This region do in contayne .x. spheres. 1627 Feltham Resolves i. xxvii. (1628) 86 Some will know Heauen as perfectly, as if they had been hurried about in euery Spheare. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §49, I grant that two bodies placed beyond the tenth Spheare..could not behold each other. 1695 Ld. Preston Boeth. i. (1712) 8 He saw of every wandring Star The various Motions through each Sphear. 1827 Pollok Course T. x, The spheres stood still, and every star Stood still and listened. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 20 This notion of the seven heavens appears to have been taken from the ‘seven spheres’. |
b. In references to the harmonious sound supposed to be produced by the motion of these spheres; in later use
esp. in the
phr. the music of the spheres.
| c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules 61 Aftyr that the melodye herde he That comyth of thilke speris thryes thre. c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) v. i. (1859) 70 The cause of this melodye is the merueylous mouyng, and wonderfull tornyng of the spyeres. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. i. 121, I had rather heare you to solicit that, Then Musicke from the spheares. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 84 His voyce was propertied As all the tuned Spheres. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 191 Our Organs are the Musick of the Spheres to them. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 202 If nature thunder'd in his op'ning ears, And stunn'd him with the music of the spheres. 1827 Pollok Course T. i, The chiming spheres, By God's own finger touched to harmony. a 1882 Rossetti Site Mulberry Tree 12 Wks. 1886 I. 285 This deaf drudge, to whom no length of ears Sufficed to catch the music of the spheres. |
c. Used as a standard of comparison to denote a great difference in rank, intelligence, etc.
| 1633 Marmion Fine Companion iv. i, He may be styl'd a civil gentleman, ten spheres below a fool. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. iii. (1658) 13 Although their [i.e. tutelary spirits] condition and fortunes may place them many Spheres above the multitude. 1859 Meredith R. Feverel xv, Erelong he meets Ralph, and discovers that he had distanced him by a sphere. |
d. A place of abode different from the present earth or world; a heaven.
| 1592 Soliman & Pers. i. i. 29 Love. Now will I vp into the brightsome sphere, From whence I sprung, till [etc.]. 1680 R. Graham Poems 2 She..from her lower Circle there Took flight into an higher Sphær. 1817 Moore Lalla Rookh, Fireworshippers iv. 344 If there be some happier sphere, Where fadeless truth like ours is dear. 1863 J. Thomson Sunday at Hampstead ii. iv, Being lord in Mohammed's seventh sphere. 1865 Lecky Ration. (1878) I. 337 A future sphere, where the injustices of life shall be rectified. |
3. One or other of the concentric globes formerly supposed to be formed by the four elements, earth, water, air, and fire;
† also, the globe formed by these elements collectively. Now
Hist.| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 64 Filosofris..seyn þat undir þe moone is a spere of sotil fier, and in þat is a spere of þe eir, and in eiþer spere of þe watir, and in þe myddil of þe world..spere of þe erþe. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 95 Þe mone, vinder whom ys þe spere of þe elemenz, þat er fyre, Eyre, water, and erthe. 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. lxxvi, Ascending vpward ay fro spere to spere, Through aire and watere and the hote fyre. c 1450 Lydg. Secrees 166 To chaunge..from the Erthe the Watir and the Ayr, And parte the Ellementys in ther sperys fayr. 1530 Rastell Bk. Purg. ii. xiii, The fyre therin wyll ascend to the proper place and spere of the element of the fyre. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. vi. 136 As for the fire, without doubt it hath his sphere (as Aristotle and other Philosophers have held). 1664 Power Exp. Philos. ii. 107 By which it most evincingly appears, that water does gravitate in its own Sphære (as they phrase it). 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. i. iii. I. 70 The principle that each element seeks its own place, led to the doctrine, that, the place of fire being the highest, there is, above the air, a sphere of fire. |
4. a. With possessive
pron. or genitive: The particular sphere (in sense 2) appropriate to, or occupied by, each of the planets (or the fixed stars).
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1495 Furste schal Phebus falle from his spere. Ibid. v. 656 O brighte Lucina,..ren faste aboute thy spere. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 20043 The cours off sterrys alle, Mevnge in ther bryhte sperys. 1430–40 ― Bochas ix. xxviii, Lyke Phœbus shyning in his midday spere. 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 338, I perambalit of Pernaso the montayn, Enspirit wyth Mercury fra his goldyn spere. 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 7 The Sphere of the Moone whiche is lowest. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 153 Certaine starres shot madly from their Spheares. 1610 ― Temp. ii. i. 183 You would lift the Moone out of her spheare. 1656 S. Holland Don Zara 73, I can call down Luna when I list from her sphere. 1736 Gray Statius i. 55 The sun's pale sister, drawn by magic strain, Deserts precipitant her darken'd sphere. 1764 Reid Inquiry vi. §1 We can measure the planetary orbs, and make discoveries in the sphere of the fixed stars. 1821 Byron Cain iii. i, Suns, moons, and earths, upon their loud-voiced spheres. 1849 M. Arnold The Voice 4 As the kindling glances..Which the bright moon lances From her tranquil sphere. |
| transf. 1781 Cowper Truth 400 Go—bid the winter cease to chill the year; Replace the wand'ring comet in his sphere. |
b. fig. Of deities, persons, or things.
| c 1500 Lancelot 170 The mychty gode of loue, That sitith hie in to his spir abuf. 1509 Hawes Joyf. Med. xvi, Now gentyll Jupyter..Sendynge downe trouthe from thy fulgent spere. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 17 A Tale..whose lightest word Would..Make thy two eyes, like Starres, start from their Spheres. 1621 J. Lane Tritons Trumpet (MS. Reg. 17 B 15, fol. 3), But Chaucer shee bidds com down off his spheare. c 1760 Smollett Ode to Blue-ey'd Ann 23 When nature from her sphere shall start. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xxxvi, He..greeted him 'twixt joy and fear, As being of superior sphere. |
c. The orbit of a planet. Also
fig.| 1594 Spenser Amoretti lx, Mars in three score yeares doth run his spheare. Ibid., The spheare of Cupid fourty yeares containes. |
5. a. A place, position, or station in society; an aggregate of persons of a certain rank or standing.
In early use directly associated with 4 b, and used only of elevated rank.
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well i. i. 100 He is so aboue me, In his bright radience and colaterall light Must I be comforted, not in his sphere. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §71 Any man who shined in such a sphere in that age in Europe. 1678 Yng. Man's Call. 66 You are ready..to..complain, that the orbe and sphære in which you are placed is low and mean. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. vii. Wks. 1761 III. 140, I should think myself obliged in conscience to act in my sphere according to that vote. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Sel. Wks. 1898 II. 89 I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she just began to move in. 1820 Scott Monast. xiv, The young lady, who seemed to have dropped amongst them from another sphere of life. 1886 Ruskin Præterita I. vii. 210 The change, for her, was into a higher sphere of society. |
b. The group of persons with whom one is directly in contact in society.
| 1839 J. H. Newman Par. Sermons IV. xiii. 235 Each knows little about what goes on in any other sphere than his own. 1848 Dickens Dombey xx, It was an assurance to him that his power extended beyond his own immediate sphere. |
6. a. A province or domain in which one's activities or faculties find scope or exercise, or within which they are naturally confined; range or compass of action or study.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. vii. 16 To be call'd into a huge Sphere, and not to be seene to moue in 't. 1635 A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 167 Divinity not being the spheare wherin my studies move. 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock ii. 75 Ye know the spheres and various tasks assign'd By laws eternal to th' aërial kind. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. i. iii. (1904) I. 20 A village is..too narrow a sphere for him. 1853 C. Brontë Villette viii, That school offered for her powers too limited a sphere. 1884 R. Paton Scott. Ch. vii. 62 Other labourers in similar spheres had left the gloom unbroken. |
b. With possessive pronouns. (
Cf. 4.)
| 1643 R. Baker Chron. (1653) 587 All this while the King had moved within his own Sphear, and had done nothing out of the Realm. 1667 Primatt City & C. Builder 55 They do buy their materials at cheaper rates than those out of whose sphere it is. 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. II. 266 Not..thrusting into Business above our Capacity and proper Sphere. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1789) IV. 147 Each personage is distinct from the rest, acts in his sphere, and cannot be confounded with any other of the dramatis personæ. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 175/1 In his new sphere Seckendorf showed the same activity and good will towards the people as before. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. xxxiii. I. 495 Each of which [sc. executive and legislative powers] forms its view as to the matters falling within its sphere. |
c. In phrases with
in and
out of, denoting suitability, or the want of it, to surroundings or environment.
| 1650 Fuller Pisgah iv. i. 10 The Temple, where this glorious Plate shined in its proper sphear. 1670 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xv. §78 He..told them that all the time he was in France he was out of his sphere. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 261 He was no sooner at Rome, than he found himself in his sphere. 1832 H. Martineau Each & All i, She is in her own sphere wherever there is grace, wherever there is enjoyment. |
7. a. The whole province, domain, or range
of some quality, thing, etc.
| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. Wks. 1856 I. 25 Ladie, erect your gratious simmetry: Shine in the spheare of sweete affection. a 1668 Davenant News fr. Plimouth i. i, London, the Spheare of Light and harmony. 1704 Swift Mech. Oper. Spirit Wks. 1768 I. 205 There are three general ways of ejaculating the soul, or transporting it beyond the sphere of matter. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 169 ¶5 They see a little, and believe that there is nothing beyond their sphere of vision. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1783) I. 105 In this course, he came within the sphere of the trade wind. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps i. §1. 7 Extending principles which belong altogether to building, into the sphere of architecture proper. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 8 The sphere of mind was dark and mysterious to him. |
b. Esp.
of action, activity, operation, etc.
| 1661 Cowley Gov. Oliver Cromwell Wks. (Grosart) II. 299/2 The bounds of those laws which have been left them, as the sphere of their authority. 1666 Dryden Ann. Mirab. Pref. Ess. (Ker) I. 12 All which, by lengthening of their chain, makes the sphere of their activity the larger. 1729 Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 154 The sphere of action of..the greatest part of mankind is much narrower than the government they live under. 1783 Burke Rep. Aff. India Wks. 1842 II. 26 The spirit..prevailed not only in Bengal, but seems, more or less, to have diffused itself through the whole sphere of the company's influence. 1836 W. Irving Astoria II. 27 The distrust..had increased in proportion as they approached the sphere of action. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xx, Miss Ophelia resolved to confine her sphere of operation and instruction chiefly to her own chamber. |
c. Similarly with
a and
pl. Also
ellipt.| 1726 Butler Serm. Rolls Chap. xv. 309 A Sphere of Knowledge..to our Capacities. 1757 Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. ii. iii. Wks. (1812) 288 He agreed to an accommodation which..only left to himself a sphere of government. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. iii. 61 His history belongs henceforth to a wider sphere. 1867 Duke of Argyll Reign of Law ii. 55 They belong to wholly different spheres of thought. 1879 Froude Cæsar xiii. 179 Cæsar could only wish for a long absence in some new sphere of usefulness. |
d. sphere of action,
influence, or
interest, a region or territory (
orig. esp. in Africa or Asia) within which a particular nation claims, or is admitted, to have a special interest for political or economic purposes. Also
ellipt. and
attrib.| 1885 Earl Granville in Hertslet Map of Africa by Treaty (1894) II. 596 A Memorandum of Agreement for separating and defining the spheres of action of Great Britain and Germany in those parts of Africa where the Colonial interests of the two countries might conflict. Ibid. 598 Their respective spheres of influence in the territories on the Gulf of Guinea. 1890 Sir C. W. Dilke Probl. Greater Britain v. II. 193 Our South African ‘sphere’. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 25 July 1/2 There is no necessary opposition between the sphere of influence policy and the ‘open-door’ policy. 1950 L. Fischer in R. Crossman God that Failed 223 It provided for a spheres-of-influence division of the areas accessible to Soviet–Nazi aggression. 1973 A. Broinowski Take One Ambassador iv. 43 The Japanese themselves are told they can't resort to force, even in what they see as their own sphere of influence. 1981 Times 21 Feb. 13/5 A programme of reform [in Poland] sufficiently limited to reassure the Russians that their sphere of influence is safe. |
II. 8. a. Geom. A figure formed by the complete revolution of a semicircle about its diameter; a round body of which the surface is at all points equidistant from the centre.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxvii. (1495) 128 The Spere is a fygure shape alle rounde and is pere to Solid in all partyes. c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483) v. xiv. 107 Alle thre dymensions in a round body nys but the same, and yf ther be ony difference the spere is not parfyte. 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 17 A Sphere is a sound figure, made by the tournynge of half a circle, tyll it ende where it began to be moued. 1570 Billingsley Euclid xi. def. 12. 316 A Sphere is a figure most apt to all motion, as hauing no base whereon to stay. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage i. ii. (1614) 10 Neyther is it yet absolutely round and a perfect sphere. 1698 J. Keill Exam. Th. Earth (1734) 223 A Sphere..whose Center of Gravity coincides with its Center of Magnitude. 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v., Parallel planes, which divide the diameter of a sphere into equal parts, divide the surface of the sphere into equal parts at the same time. 1840 Lardner Geom. 204 The diameter..on which the generating circle turns is called the axis of the sphere, and its extremities..are called the poles of the sphere. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 394 Draw the complete plan, and project..the external form of the sphere. |
† b. The containing surface of such a figure or body.
Obs.—1| a 1631 Donne Poems (1650) 7 Shine here to us, and thou art every where; This bed thy center is, these wals, thy spheare. |
c. Math. The set of all points at a specified distance from a specified point.
| 1934 C. C. Krieger tr. Sierpi{nacu}ski's Introd. Gen Topology vi. 77 The set K(p,r) (where p ε M, and r > 0) is called an open sphere of centre p and radius r. 1959 E. M. Patterson Topology i. 3 Since all spheres are homeomorphic, we speak of the sphere, rather than a sphere. 1968 E. T. Copson Metric Spaces iii. 32 If we impose on the set..of all ordered pairs of real numbers the metric ρ(x,y) = max {ob}{vb}x1 - y1{vb}, {vb}x2 - y2{vb}{cb} the spheres are squares. |
9. a. A body of a globular or orbicular form; a globe or ball.
| 1388 Wyclif Isaiah xxix. 3 And Y schal cumpasse as a round speere, ether trendil, in thi cumpasse. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 227 In the hiȝhte of whom is a spere of brasse conteynenge the bones of Iulyus Cesar. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 49 With obelisks, sphearz, and white bearz, all of stone, vpon theyr curioouz basez. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 355 Of Celestial Bodies first the Sun A mightie Spheare he fram'd. 1747 Franklin Lett., etc. Wks. 1840 V. 188 Our spheres are fixed on iron axes, which pass through them. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho i, The changing moon forsakes this shadowy sphere. 1831 Brewster Optics xxviii. 237 If we place a sphere of glass in a glass trough of hot oil. 1842 Tennyson Locksley Hall 164 Lying in dark-purple spheres of sea. 1875 Darwin Insectiv. Plants vi. 95 The fourth [cube] was converted into a minute sphere surrounded by transparent fluid. |
| fig. 1671 Milton Samson 172 For him I reckon not in high estate Whom long descent of birth Or the sphear of fortune raises. 1701 Norris Ideal World i. vi. 389 He..can never go out of her sphere, whose center is everywhere, and whose circumference in nowhere. 1853 Lynch Self-Improv. 33 Religion..at last fills the sphere, the eternity of his being. |
b. The rounded mass
of such a body.
| 1555 Eden Decades i. i. (Arb.) 67 The iudgement of auncient wryters as touchynge the bignesse of the Sphere and compasse of the Globe. 1663 S. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xxxvi. (1687) 470 To colour the cheeks of our Apples, and enlarge the Sphere of our Cabbages. 1827 Hood Plea Mids. Fairies i, With a broader sphere The Moon looks down on Ceres and her sheaves. 1830 Tennyson Mermaid 54 All things..Would lean out from the hollow sphere of the sea. 1858 Greener Gunnery 79 Until the flat surface is nearly equal to the diameter of the sphere of the ball. |
c. The surface or material of a circular object.
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad xiv. 154 A girdle, whose rich sphere a hundred studs impress'd. |
10. † a. = globe n. 4,
orb n.1 11.
Obs.| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 235 The riȝt hond holdynge þe spere, þat is þe roundenesse and þe liknesse of þe world. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 91 b, A hande of golde holdyng a spere of the worlde. |
b. An orb of the mundane system; a planet or star.
| 1598 Marston Sco. Villanie x. H iij b, A hall, a hall, Roome for the Spheres, the Orbes celestiall Will daunce Kemps Iigge. 1607 Shakes. Timon i. i. 66 All kinde of Natures That labour on the bosome of this Sphere. 17.. Watts Hymn, ‘God is a Name of my Soul adores’ ii, Thy Voice produc'd the Sea and Spheres. 1837 Babbage 9th Bridgewater Treat. iii. 57 He has traced the orbits of earth's sister spheres. 1871 Blackie Four Phases Morals i. 20 We attempt ambitiously to measure the remote movement of the spheres. |
III. 11. attrib. a. In the sense ‘of or pertaining to the celestial spheres’, as
sphere-fire,
sphere-harmony,
sphere-melody,
sphere-metal,
sphere-music,
sphere-song,
sphere-tune.
| 1609 Markham Famous Wh. (1868) 33 Angels learnt their sphear-tunes from my voice. c 1630 Milton On University Carrier ii. 5 So hung his destiny never to rot,..Made of sphear-metal, never to decay Untill his revolution was at stay. 1820 Shelley Cloud 71 The sphere-fire above its soft colours wove. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. iii. vi, The Sphere-music of Parlementary eloquence begins. 1840 ― Heroes iii. (1904) 84 The Greeks fabled of Sphere-Harmonies. 1858 Sears Athan. xvii. 143 We..strike out bravely for the sphere-melodies. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 24, I shall no more dare to..Pass off human lisp as echo of the sphere-song out of reach. |
b. In the sense ‘having the form of a sphere’, as
sphere-crystal.
| 1882 Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 63 It crystallises in the form of so-called Sphere-crystals,..consisting of crystalline elements disposed in a radiate manner. 1885 G. L. Goodale Physiol. Bot. 53 Both forms have been termed Sphæraphides and Sphere-crystals. |
12. Comb., as
sphere-born,
sphere-descended,
sphere-filled,
sphere-found,
sphere-headed,
sphere-like,
sphere-tuned adjs;
sphere gap Electr., a form of spark gap with two spherical electrodes, used
esp. in devices for measuring high voltages.
| c 1630 Milton At a Solemn Music 2 *Sphear-born harmonious Sisters, Voice, and Vers. |
| 1747 Collins Passions 95 O Musick! *sphere-descended maid. |
| 1855 Bailey Mystic, etc. 82 The holy image of the *sphere-filled air. |
| 1747 Collins Ode to Liberty iv. 34 The secret builder knew to choose Each *sphere-found gem of richest hues. |
| 1913 Trans. Amer. Inst. Electr. Engineers XXXII. 739 The *sphere gap has been suggested as a standard instrument to be used in the measurement of high voltage. 1962 Newnes Conc. Encycl. Electr. Engin. 767/2 The measurement and recording of testing voltages requires either a voltage divider..or a sphere gap..capable of measuring the peak voltage. |
| 1786 Abercrombie Arr. 56 in Gard. Assist., *Sphere headed greater [thistle]. |
| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 23 In manner *Spherelike it hath one within an other. 1719 D'Urfey Pills V. 119 Last of all there should appear, Seven Eunuchs sphere-like Singing here. 1896 Pop. Sci. Monthly Feb. 507 The water..breaks up into spherelike globules. |
| 1636 T. Sanford in Ann. Dubrensia (1877) 50 And how your Swaines will leave Posteritie *Sphære-tuned Sonnets. 1752 H. M[oore] To Mem. of Dr. Doddridge xi, I seem to..catch sweet Music from thy Sphere-tun'd Tongue. |
▪ II. sphere, v. (
sfɪər)
Also 7
sphear.
[f. prec.] 1. trans. To enclose in or as in a sphere; to encircle, engirdle, surround. Also with
about.
| 1607 Chapman Bussy d'Ambois i. i. 31 Spreading all our reaches As if each private arm would sphere the earth. c 1611 ― Iliad xviii. 185 When any towne is spher'd With siege of such a foe, as kils mens mindes. 16.. Middleton, etc. Old Law v. i, A place at hand we were all strangers in, So spher'd about with music. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh iii. 309, I resolved by prose To make a space to sphere my living verse. 1866 W. R. Alger Solit. Nat. & Man ii. 43 Mourners, sphered by their dark garb in a sacred and touching solitude. |
2. To make into a sphere; to fill up or ‘crown’
with liquor.
| 1605 B. Jonson Masque of Blackness Wks. (Rtldg.) 547/2 An urn sphered with wine. a 1849 H. Coleridge Ess. (1851) I. 272 Who could endure to see the sweet creature take a trumpet and sphere her bias cheeks like fame? |
b. fig. To form into a rounded or perfect whole.
| 1615 Chapman Odyss. xviii. 297 That no more my mone Might waste my blood..For want of that accomplisht vertue spher'd In my lou'd Lord. 1622 Massinger & Dekker Virg. Martyr iv. i, You, hitherto, Have still had goodness sphered within your eyes, Let not that orb be broken. 1847 Tennyson Princ. iv. 129 Not vassals to be beat,..but living wills, and sphered Whole in ourselves and owed to none. |
3. To place in a sphere or among the spheres; to set in the heavens.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 90 And therefore is the glorious Planet Sol In noble eminence, enthron'd and sphear'd Amid'st the other. 1657 W. Morice Coena quasi κοινὴ xxii. 215 All that fire which is spheared on high and separate from commixture, is a pure element. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 247 Light..from her Native East To journie through the airie gloom began, Sphear'd in a radiant Cloud. 1820 Shelley Fiordispina 26 But thou art as a planet sphered above. 1847 Tennyson Princ. iv. 418, I would have reach'd you had you been Sphered up with Cassiopëia. 1850 ― In Mem. ix, Sphere all your lights around, above; Sleep, gentle heavens, before the prow. |
b. fig. To set aloft or aloof; to place above the common reach.
| 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 190 The minds internall soueraignesse doth sit, As a great Princesse, much admired at, Sphered and reared in her chaire of state. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, lxxxii, Maiestie should be sphear'd Beyond the common Eye. 1853 Lytton My Novel vi. iv, The pale reflex and imitation of some bright mind, sphered out of reach and afar. 1861 Ld. Lytton & Fane Tannhäuser 14 That so august a spirit, sphered so fair, Should from the starry sessions of his peers Decline. |
4. To send
about in a circle; to turn
round in all directions.
| 1648 Herrick Hesper., His Age xix, We'l still sit up, Sphering about the wassail cup, To all those times, Which gave me honour for my Rhimes. 1820 Keats Hyperion i. 117 Open thine eyes eterne, and sphere them round Upon all space. |
5. intr. To centre
in something.
| 1856 Masson Ess. Biog. & Crit. i. 34 The very same soul..was also related with inordinate keenness and intimacy to all that this life spheres in. |
Hence
ˈsphering vbl. n. Also
attrib.| 1818 Keats Endym. ii. 251 One of those Who, when this planet's sphering time doth close, Will be its high remembrancers. 1877 Symonds Renaiss. It. vi. 323 How those mighty master spirits watched the sphering of new planets in the spiritual skies. |