Index of English words, starting with "pa"

(1) - Parabola (n.) One of a group of curves defined by the equation y = axn where n is a positive whole number or a positive fraction. For the cubical parabola n = 3; for the semicubical parabola n = /. See under Cubical, and Semicubical. The parabolas have infinite branches, but no rectilineal asymptotes.
(2) - Parabola (n.) A kind of curve; one of the conic sections formed by the intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane parallel to one of its sides. It is a curve, any point of which is equally distant from a fixed point, called the focus, and a fixed straight line, called the directrix. See Focus.

(1) - Parabolic (a.) Alt. of Parabolical

(1) - Paraboloid (n.) The solid generated by the rotation of a parabola about its axis; any surface of the second order whose sections by planes parallel to a given line are parabolas.

(1) - Parachronism (n.) An error in chronology, by which the date of an event is set later than the time of its occurrence.