From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Parabola \Pa*rab"o*la\, noun; pl. {Parabolas}. [NL., fr. Gr. ?; -- so called because its axis is parallel to the side of the cone. See {Parable}, and cf. {Parabole}.] (Geom.) (a) 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}. (b) One of a group of curves defined by the equation y = ax^{n} where n is a positive whole number or a positive fraction. For the {cubical parabola} n = 3; for the {semicubical parabola} n = 3/2. See under {Cubical}, and {Semicubical}. The parabolas have infinite branches, but no rectilineal asymptotes.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the curve
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
18 Moby Thesaurus words for "parabola": arc, bow, catacaustic, catenary, caustic, circle, conchoid, crook, curl, curve, diacaustic, ellipse, festoon, hook, hyperbola, lituus, sinus, tracery
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0