Noun

(en noun)

(mathematics) A regular three-dimensional object in which every cross-section is a circle; the figure described by the revolution of a circle about its diameter .

A spherical physical object; a globe or ball.

* Milton

Of celestial bodies, first the sun, / A mighty sphere , he framed.

* 2011 , Piers Sellers, The Guardian , 6 July:

So your orientation changes a little bit but it sinks in that the world is a sphere , and you're going around it, sometimes under it, sideways, or over it.

* 1635 , John Donne, "His parting form her":

Though cold and darkness longer hang somewhere, / Yet Phoebus equally lights all the Sphere .

(historical, astronomy, mythology) Any of the concentric hollow transparent globes formerly believed to rotate around the Earth, and which carried the heavenly bodies; there were originally believed to be eight, and later nine and ten; friction between them was thought to cause a harmonious sound (the music of the spheres ).

*, vol.1, p.153:

It is more simplicitie to teach our children[t]he knowledge of the starres, and the motion of the eighth spheare , before their owne.

* 1646 , (Thomas Browne), Pseudodoxia Epidemica , I.6:

They understood not the motion of the eighth sphear from West to East, and so conceived the longitude of the Stars invariable.

(mythology) An area of activity for a planet; or by extension, an area of influence for a god, hero etc.

(figuratively) The region in which something or someone is active; one's province, domain.

* 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.20:

They thought – originally on grounds derived from religion – that each thing or person had its or his proper sphere , to overstep which is ‘unjust’.

(geometry) The set of all points in three-dimensional Euclidean space (or n -dimensional space, in topology) that are a fixed distance from a fixed point .

(logic) The extension of a general conception, or the totality of the individuals or species to which it may be applied.

Noun

(en noun)

The way something appears when viewed from a certain direction or perspective.

The way something appears when considered from a certain point of view.

A phase or a partial, but significant view or description of something

One's appearance or expression.

* (and other bibliographic particulars) (John Dryden)

serious in aspect

* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)

, chapter=4, title= A Cuckoo in the Nest , passage=By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect .}}

* 2009 , (Hilary Mantel), (Wolf Hall) , Fourth Estate 2010, p. 145:

It is Stephen Gardiner, black and scowling, his aspect in no way improved by his trip to Rome.

Position or situation with regard to seeing; that position which enables one to look in a particular direction; position in relation to the points of the compass.

Prospect; outlook.

* (and other bibliographic particulars) (John Evelyn)

This town affords a good aspect toward the hill from whence we descended.

(grammar) A grammatical quality of a verb which determines the relationship of the speaker to the internal temporal flow of the event the verb describes, or whether the speaker views the event from outside as a whole, or from within as it is unfolding.

(astrology) The relative position of heavenly bodies as they appear to an observer on earth; the angular relationship between points in a horoscope.

(Milton)

(obsolete) The act of looking at something; gaze.

* (and other bibliographic particulars) Sir (Francis Bacon)

The basilisk killeth by aspect .

* (and other bibliographic particulars) Sir (Walter Scott)

His aspect was bent on the ground.

(obsolete) Appearance to the eye or the mind; look; view.

* (and other bibliographic particulars) (Thomas Burnet)

the true aspect of a world lying in its rubbish

* (and other bibliographic particulars)

the aspect of affairs

(computing, programming) In aspect-oriented programming, a feature or component that can be applied to parts of a program independent of any inheritance hierarchy.