- Dome
- 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.
[1913 Webster]
Approach the dome, the social banquet share. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
2. (Arch.) A cupola formed on a large scale. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.