octant

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oc·tant

(ŏk′tənt)

1. One eighth of a circle.

a. A 45° arc.

b. The area enclosed by two radii at a 45° angle and the intersected arc.

3. An instrument based on the principle of the sextant but employing only a 45° angle, used as an aid in navigation.

4. Astronomy The position of a celestial body when it is separated from another by a 45° angle.

5. One of eight parts into which three-dimensional space is divided by three usually perpendicular coordinate planes.

[Latin octāns, octant-, from octō, eight; see oktō(u) in Indo-European roots.]

oc·tan′tal (ŏk-tăn′təl) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

octant

(ˈɒktənt)

1. (Mathematics) maths

a. any of the eight parts into which the three planes containing the Cartesian coordinate axes divide space

b. an eighth part of a circle

2. (Astronomy) astronomy the position of a celestial body when it is at an angular distance of 45° from another body

3. (Navigation) an instrument used for measuring angles, similar to a sextant but having a graduated arc of 45°

[C17: from Latin octans half quadrant, from octo eight]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

oc•tant

(ˈɒk tənt)

n.

1. the eighth part of a circle.

2. any of the eight parts into which three mutually perpendicular planes divide space.

3. an instrument having an arc of 24°, used by navigators for measuring angles up to 90°.

4. the position of one heavenly body when 45° distant from another.

[1680–90; < Latin octant-, s. of octāns=oct(ō) eight + -āns, as in quadrāns quadrant]

oc•tan′tal (-ˈtæn tl) adj.

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Noun

octant - a measuring instrument for measuring angles to a celestial body; similar to a sextant but with 45 degree calibration

limb - the graduated arc that is attached to an instrument for measuring angles; "the limb of the sextant"

measuring device, measuring instrument, measuring system - instrument that shows the extent or amount or quantity or degree of something

Translations

οκτάντας

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References in classic literature ?

It was in its octant, and showed a crescent finely traced on the dark background of the sky.

View in context

Following longtime convention, the sky is broken into eighths, or "octants." Cloud cover implies opaque, non-transparent clouds.

Reading the Sky: Learn how to identify and interpret clouds to predict weather in your area

The detector will have sixteen scintillator pairs for each of the eight octants, which surround the beamline to cover phi of 360[degres] for maximum solid angle.

PHYSICS AND ENGINEERING

To test for associations between short-term fluctuations in spawning activity and weather and sea conditions, we examined relationships between spawning output and swell action, sunlight, and onshore wind stress, where onshore wind stress = (wind stress from the NW-E octants) - (wind stress from the SE-W octants) [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED].

Settlement vs. environmental dynamics in a pelagic-spawning reef fish at Caribbean Panama

Eight isolated trees were divided into eight octants, each with a specific aspect relative to the bole (NNE, ENE, ESE, SSE, SSW, WSW, WNW, and NNW), to give a total of 64 plots.

Crop Diversification in the Sahel through Use of Environmental Changes near Faidherbia albida (Del.) A. Chev

Eight octants result, including high and low non-specific activation, and high, moderate, and low levels each of positive and negative affect.

Customer delight: foundations, findings, and managerial insight

Eight conditions (octants) of situational control were defined, and hypotheses concerning their moderating effects on relationships between leader motivation and effectiveness were proposed.

The social scientific study of leadership: quo vadis?

The factors were assembled in a cube projection of eight octants, so that it was possible to depict quality, cost, and access in a simultaneous, integrated relationship (figure 1, below).

An integrated model for measuring management performance

To avoid abrupt differences in mesh density, neighboring cells are forced to have no more than a 2-to-1 level difference by subdividing the larger octants to the appropriate level.

Merging CAT and FEM

X marks the spot (between top and bottom octants) where a proton with 800 billion electron-volts (800 GeV) energy collided head-on with an antiproton of equal energy in the Tevaltron (SN: 9/28/85, p.

Protons meet antiprotons at 1,600 GeV

Triantafillou and Gibson (15) recently developed a failure surface for cellular materials that is an ellipsoid elongated along the hydrostat that is truncated in the tensile and compressive octants by box-like surfaces, which account for brittle fracture and cell-wall buckling.