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Parallel vs Collimate - What's the difference?

parallel | collimate |

As verbs the difference between parallel and collimate

is that parallel is to construct or place something parallel to something else while collimate is to focus into a narrow beam or column; to adjust a focusing device so that it produces a narrow beam.

As an adjective parallel

is equally distant from one another at all points.

As an adverb parallel

is with a parallel relationship.

As a noun parallel

is one of a set of parallel lines.

parallel

English

(wikipedia parallel)

Adjective

(-)
  • Equally distant from one another at all points.
    • The horizontal lines on my notebook paper are parallel .
  • * Hakluyt
    • revolutions parallel to the equinoctial
  • Having the same overall direction; the comparison is indicated with "to".
    • The railway line runs parallel to the road.
    The two railway lines are parallel .
  • * Addison
    • When honour runs parallel with the laws of God and our country, it cannot be too much cherished.
  • (hyperbolic geometry) said of a pair of lines:'' that they either do not intersect or they coincide Jos Leys — ''The hyperbolic chamber (paragraph 8)
  • (computing) Involving the processing of multiple tasks at the same time
    • a parallel algorithm

    Antonyms

    * perpendicular, skew, serial

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • With a parallel relationship.
    • The road runs parallel with the canal.

    Related terms

    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One of a set of parallel lines.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • Who made the spider parallels design, / Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line?
  • Direction conformable to that of another line.
  • * Garth
    • lines that from their parallel decline
  • A line of latitude.
    • The 31st parallel passes through the center of my town.
  • An arrangement of electrical components such that a current flows along two or more paths; see in parallel.
  • Something identical or similar in essential respects.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • None but thyself can be thy parallel .
  • A comparison made; elaborate tracing of similarity.
    • Johnson's parallel between Dryden and Pope
  • (military) One of a series of long trenches constructed before a besieged fortress, by the besieging force, as a cover for troops supporting the attacking batteries. They are roughly parallel to the line of outer defenses of the fortress.
  • (printing) A character consisting of two parallel vertical lines, used in the text to direct attention to a similarly marked note in the margin or at the foot of a page.

    • Antonyms

    * perpendicular, skew (?)

    Verb

  • To construct or place something parallel to something else.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • The needle doth parallel and place itself upon the true meridian.
  • Of a path etc: To be parallel to something else.
  • Of a process etc: To be analogous to something else.
  • To compare or liken something to something else.
  • To make to conform to something else in character, motive, aim, etc.
  • * Shakespeare
    • His life is parallelled / Even with the stroke and line of his great justice.
  • To equal; to match; to correspond to.
    • (Shakespeare)
  • To produce or adduce as a parallel.
  • * Shakespeare
    • My young remembrance cannot parallel / A fellow to it.
    (John Locke)

    Derived terms

    * embarrassingly parallel * forty-ninth parallel * parallel algorithm * parallel circuit * parallel computing * parallelism * parallelogram * parallel universe * unparalleled

    See also

    * sequential

    References

    ----

    collimate

    English

    (Collimated light)

    Verb

    (collimat)
  • To focus into a narrow beam or column; to adjust a focusing device so that it produces a narrow beam.
    • Lead bricks were placed around the radioactive source so that the escaping gamma rays would be limited to a collimated beam rather than filling the lab.
    I need to collimate my telescope so that the images are clearer.
  • * 2006 , Martin Mobberley, Lunar and Planetary Webcam User's Guide , page 22,
    • However, after a bit of experience, the collimating' chore can become routine.Of course, if manufacturers made telescopes whose optics did not move around, you would only have to ' collimate a telescope once.
  • * 2007 , Stephen Tonkin, Binocular Astronomy , page 69,
    • Binoculars can be collimated' by either eccentric rings on the objective lenses or by tilting the prisms with grub screws (set screws).Always ' collimate binoculars outdoors, or indoors by looking through an open window.
  • * 2008 , Roberto Ramirez-Iniguez, Sevia M. Idrus, Ziran Sun, Optical Wireless Communications: IR for Wireless Connectivity , page 61,
    • When calculating the size of the spot created on the retina by the lens of the eye when focusing the energy from a collimated source, the eye is generally considered to be ideal and diffraction limited.