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Epicycle - What does it mean?

epicycle | |

epicycle

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (astronomy) A small circle whose centre is on the circumference of a larger circle; in Ptolemaic astronomy it was seen as the basis of revolution of the "seven planets", given a fixed central Earth.
  • *, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.155:
    • Is it not [Philosophie], thatteacheth miserie, famine and sicknesse to laugh? Not by reason of some imaginarie Epicicles , but by naturall and palpable reasons.
  • (mathematics) Any circle whose circumference rolls around that of another circle, thus creating a hypocycloid or epicycloid.

    • Derived terms

    * epicyclic

    Not English

    has no English definition. It may be misspelled.