DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Su·ture n.
 1. The act of sewing; also, the line along which two things or parts are sewed together, or are united so as to form a seam, or that which resembles a seam.
 2. Surg. (a) The uniting of the parts of a wound by stitching. (b) The stitch by which the parts are united.
 3. Anat. The line of union, or seam, in an immovable articulation, like those between the bones of the skull; also, such an articulation itself; synarthrosis. See Harmonic suture, under Harmonic.
 4. Bot. (a) The line, or seam, formed by the union of two margins in any part of a plant; as, the ventral suture of a legume. (b) A line resembling a seam; as, the dorsal suture of a legume, which really corresponds to a midrib.
 5. Zool. (a) The line at which the elytra of a beetle meet and are sometimes confluent. (b) A seam, or impressed line, as between the segments of a crustacean, or between the whorls of a univalve shell.
 Glover's suture, Harmonic suture, etc. See under Glover, Harmonic, etc.
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 Har·mon·ic Har·mon·ic·al, a.
 1. Concordant; musical; consonant; as, harmonic sounds.
    Harmonic twang! of leather, horn, and brass.   --Pope.
 2. Mus. Relating to harmony, -- as melodic relates to melody; harmonious; esp., relating to the accessory sounds or overtones which accompany the predominant and apparent single tone of any string or sonorous body.
 3. Math. Having relations or properties bearing some resemblance to those of musical consonances; -- said of certain numbers, ratios, proportions, points, lines, motions, and the like.
 Harmonic interval Mus., the distance between two notes of a chord, or two consonant notes.
 Harmonical mean Arith. & Alg., certain relations of numbers and quantities, which bear an analogy to musical consonances.
 Harmonic motion,  the motion of the point A, of the foot of the perpendicular PA, when P moves uniformly in the circumference of a circle, and PA is drawn perpendicularly upon a fixed diameter of the circle. This is simple harmonic motion. The combinations, in any way, of two or more simple harmonic motions, make other kinds of harmonic motion.  The motion of the pendulum bob of a clock is approximately simple harmonic motion.
 Harmonic proportion. See under Proportion.
 Harmonic series or Harmonic progression. See under Progression.
 Spherical harmonic analysis, a mathematical method, sometimes referred to as that of Laplace's Coefficients, which has for its object the expression of an arbitrary, periodic function of two independent variables, in the proper form for a large class of physical problems, involving arbitrary data, over a spherical surface, and the deduction of solutions for every point of space. The functions employed in this method are called spherical harmonic functions. --Thomson & Tait.
 Harmonic suture Anat., an articulation by simple apposition of comparatively smooth surfaces or edges, as between the two superior maxillary bones in man; -- called also harmonia, and harmony.
 Harmonic triad Mus., the chord of a note with its third and fifth; the common chord.
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 Har·mo·ny n.; pl. Harmonies
 1. The just adaptation of parts to each other, in any system or combination of things, or in things intended to form a connected whole; such an agreement between the different parts of a design or composition as to produce unity of effect; as, the harmony of the universe.
 2. Concord or agreement in facts, opinions, manners, interests, etc.; good correspondence; peace and friendship; as, good citizens live in harmony.
 3. A literary work which brings together or arranges systematically parallel passages of historians respecting the same events, and shows their agreement or consistency; as, a harmony of the Gospels.
 4. Mus. (a) A succession of chords according to the rules of progression and modulation. (b) The science which treats of their construction and progression.
 Ten thousand harps, that tuned
 Angelic harmonies.   --Milton.
 5. Anat. See Harmonic suture, under Harmonic.
 Close harmony, Dispersed harmony, etc. See under Close, Dispersed, etc.
 Harmony of the spheres. See Music of the spheres, under Music.
 Syn: -- Harmony, Melody.
 Usage: Harmony results from the concord of two or more strains or sounds which differ in pitch and quality. Melody denotes the pleasing alternation and variety of musical and measured sounds, as they succeed each other in a single verse or strain.
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