Solar cycle

Solar cycle
Cycle Cy"cle (s?"k'l), n. [F. ycle, LL. cyclus, fr. Gr. ky`klos ring or circle, cycle; akin to Skr. cakra wheel, circle. See {Wheel}.] 1. An imaginary circle or orbit in the heavens; one of the celestial spheres. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

2. An interval of time in which a certain succession of events or phenomena is completed, and then returns again and again, uniformly and continually in the same order; a periodical space of time marked by the recurrence of something peculiar; as, the cycle of the seasons, or of the year. [1913 Webster]

Wages . . . bear a full proportion . . . to the medium of provision during the last bad cycle of twenty years. --Burke. [1913 Webster]

3. An age; a long period of time. [1913 Webster]

Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]

4. An orderly list for a given time; a calendar. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

We . . . present our gardeners with a complete cycle of what is requisite to be done throughout every month of the year. --Evelyn. [1913 Webster]

5. The circle of subjects connected with the exploits of the hero or heroes of some particular period which have served as a popular theme for poetry, as the legend of Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, and that of Charlemagne and his paladins. [1913 Webster]

6. (Bot.) One entire round in a circle or a spire; as, a cycle or set of leaves. --Gray. [1913 Webster]

7. A bicycle or tricycle, or other light velocipede. [1913 Webster]

8. A motorcycle. [PJC]

9. (Thermodynamics) A series of operations in which heat is imparted to (or taken away from) a working substance which by its expansion gives up a part of its internal energy in the form of mechanical work (or being compressed increases its internal energy) and is again brought back to its original state. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

10. (Technology) A complete positive and negative, or forward and reverse, action of any periodic process, such as a vibration, an electric field oscillation, or a current alternation; one period. Hence: (Elec.) A complete positive and negative wave of an alternating current. The number of cycles (per second) is a measure of the frequency of an alternating current. [Webster 1913 Suppl. + PJC]

{Calippic cycle}, a period of 76 years, or four Metonic cycles; -- so called from Calippus, who proposed it as an improvement on the Metonic cycle.

{Cycle of eclipses}, a period of about 6,586 days, the time of revolution of the moon's node; -- called {Saros} by the Chaldeans.

{Cycle of indiction}, a period of 15 years, employed in Roman and ecclesiastical chronology, not founded on any astronomical period, but having reference to certain judicial acts which took place at stated epochs under the Greek emperors.

{Cycle of the moon}, or {Metonic cycle}, a period of 19 years, after the lapse of which the new and full moon returns to the same day of the year; -- so called from Meton, who first proposed it.

{Cycle of the sun}, {Solar cycle}, a period of 28 years, at the end of which time the days of the month return to the same days of the week. The dominical or Sunday letter follows the same order; hence the solar cycle is also called the {cycle of the Sunday letter}. In the Gregorian calendar the solar cycle is in general interrupted at the end of the century. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • Solar cycle — Solar So lar, a. [L. solaris, fr. sol the sun; akin to As. s[=o]l, Icel. s[=o]l, Goth. sauil, Lith. saule, W. haul,. sul, Skr. svar, perhaps to E. sun:F. solaire. Cf. {Parasol}. {Sun}.] 1. Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from the sun; as …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • solar cycle — n. a period of time, averaging c. 11 years, during which certain phenomena, as maximum sunspot activity, recur on the sun …   English World dictionary

  • Solar cycle — The solar cycle, or the solar magnetic activity cycle, is the main source of periodic variation of all solar phenomena driving variations in space weather. [ [http://www7.nationalacademies.org/ssb/SSB Space weather97.pdf Space Weather: A Research …   Wikipedia

  • solar cycle — Astron. the variation of sunspots, prominences, flares, and other solar activity through an 11 year cycle. Also called solar activity cycle. Cf. sunspot cycle. * * * Period in which several important kinds of solar activity repeat, discovered in… …   Universalium

  • solar cycle — Saulės aktyvumo ciklas statusas T sritis fizika atitikmenys: angl. solar cycle vok. Sonnenkreisprozeß, m rus. цикл солнечной активности, m pranc. cycle de l’activité solaire, m …   Fizikos terminų žodynas

  • Solar cycle (calendar) — The solar cycle is a 28 year cycle of the Julian calendar with respect to the week. It occurs because leap years occur every 4 years and there are 7 possible days to start a leap year, making a 28 year sequence.This cycle also occurs in the… …   Wikipedia

  • solar cycle — noun 1. : a cycle of disturbances in the sun and its atmosphere (as the fluctuation in the numbers and areas of sunspots or the form and shape of the corona) of an average length of about 11 years 2. : cycle of the sun * * * Astron. the variation …   Useful english dictionary

  • Solar Cycle —    A somewhat regular eleven year cycle of activity on the Sun where Sun Spots and other activity ranges from very active to almost non existent. See Solar Flare …   The writer's dictionary of science fiction, fantasy, horror and mythology

  • SOLAR CYCLE —    a period of 28 years, within which the first day of the year passes successively through the same sequence of week days …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • solar cycle — daily rise and setting of the sun …   English contemporary dictionary

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