semicircular, a.
(sɛmɪˈsɜːkjʊlə(r))
Also 5 -er.
[ad. med.L. sēmicirculāris, f. L. sēmicircul-us semicircle. Cf. F. semi-circulaire.]
Of the form of a semicircle.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) IV. 101 After auctores theatrum is proprely a flore semicirculer, in the myddes of whom was an howse whiche was callede scena. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 984 The figure of the ribs is semicircular like a Bow. 1624 Wotton Archit. i. 50 Semicircular Arches, or Hemisphericall Vaults, being raised vpon the totall Diameter. 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. (1710) 417 The Lords..when in the Inner House sit on a Semicircular Bench..to hear Petitions. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. xi. I. 300 Disposing the legions in a semicircular form, he advanced the two horns of the crescent across the Danube. 1864 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. iv. (1875) 48 Behind in the semicircular apse sat the clergy, rising tier above tier. a 1878 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. (1879) I. 49 The arches [in the Romanesque style] always either semi-circular or segmental. |
| Comb. 1766 Complete Farmer s.v. Mouldiness 5 P 4/2 Two twigs of ozier put semicircular-wise into holes made in the handle of the scythe. 1828–9 Narrien in Encycl. Metropol. (1845) V. 284/2 Semicircular-headed apertures serving as entrances. 1897 Ch. Times 20 Aug. 186/1 Small semicircular-headed windows of one light. |
b. Anat. Designating
† (
a) the orbicular muscle of the eyelid; (
b) the three canals of the internal ear.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Semicircular Muscles, the same as Claudent Muscles. 1748 Hartley Observ. Man i. ii. §5. 224 Vibrations communicated to the Cochlea, and semicircular Canals. 1843 Carpenter Anim. Phys. §518 The three semicircular canals are passages, excavated in the solid bone, and lined by a continuation of the same membrane as that which lines the vestibule [of the ear]. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 38/2 The horizontal semicircular canal in the internal ear of a pigeon. |
Hence
semicircuˈlarity,
semiˈcircularness.
| 1731 Bailey, Semicircularness, half circularness. 1863 Reade Hard Cash i, Observing his semicircularity and general condition. |