Dome \Dome\, n. [F. d[^o]me, It. duomo, fr. L. domus a house,
domus Dei or Domini, house of the Lord, house of God; akin to
Gr. ? house, ? to build, and E. timber. See Timber.]
1. A building; a house; an edifice; -- used chiefly in
poetry.
Approach the dome, the social banquet share. --Pope.
2. (Arch.) A cupola formed on a large scale.
Note: ``The Italians apply the term il duomo to the principal
church of a city, and the Germans call every cathedral
church Dom; and it is supposed that the word in its
present English sense has crept into use from the
circumstance of such buildings being frequently
surmounted by a cupola.'' --Am. Cyc.
3. Any erection resembling the dome or cupola of a building;
as the upper part of a furnace, the vertical steam chamber
on the top of a boiler, etc.
4. (Crystallog.) A prism formed by planes parallel to a
lateral axis which meet above in a horizontal edge, like
the roof of a house; also, one of the planes of such a
form.
Note: If the plane is parallel to the longer diagonal
(macrodiagonal) of the prism, it is called a macrodome;
if parallel to the shorter (brachydiagonal), it is a
brachydome; if parallel to the inclined diagonal in a
monoclinic crystal, it is called a clinodome; if
parallel to the orthodiagonal axis, an orthodome.
--Dana.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
|