Tropic of Cancer

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Tropic of Cancer

The parallel of latitude 23°26′ north of the equator, the northern boundary of the Torrid Zone, and the most northerly latitude at which the sun can shine directly overhead.

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.

trop•ic

(ˈtrɒp ɪk)

n.

a. either of two corresponding parallels of latitude on the terrestrial globe, one (tropic of Cancer) about 23½° N, and the other (tropic of Capricorn) about 23½° S of the equator, being the boundaries of the Torrid Zone.

b. the tropics, the regions lying between and near these parallels of latitude; the Torrid Zone and neighboring regions.

2. either of two circles on the celestial sphere, one lying in the same plane as the tropic of Cancer, the other in the same plane as the tropic of Capricorn.

adj.

3. of or pertaining to the tropics; tropical.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Latin tropicus < Greek tropikós pertaining to a turn =tróp(os) turn + -ikos -ic]

-tropic

a combining form with the meanings “turned toward, with an orientation toward” that specified by the initial element (geotropic), “having an affinity for, affecting” what is specified (lipotropic), “affecting the activity of, maintaining” a specified organ (thyrotropic). Compare –trophic

Tropic of Cancer

The parallel of latitude 23°27′ north of the equator. It forms the boundary between the Torrid Zone and the North Temperate Zone.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun

Tropic of Cancer - a line of latitude about 23 degrees to the north of the equator

Translations

Kravun kääntöpiiri

Tropico del Cancro

Kreeftskeerkring

тропик Рака

kräftans vändkrets

References in classic literature ?

The frigate passed at some distance from the Marquesas and the Sandwich Islands, crossed the tropic of Cancer, and made for the China Seas.

View in context

The Tankadere entered the Straits of Fo-Kien, which separate the island of Formosa from the Chinese coast, in the small hours of the night, and crossed the Tropic of Cancer. The sea was very rough in the straits, full of eddies formed by the counter-currents, and the chopping waves broke her course, whilst it became very difficult to stand on deck.

View in context

I remember very clearly how I read Tropic of Cancer for the first time, thirty years ago" very quickly, overexcited, in the course of just one night.

Tropic of Cancer: the happy nihilist

But it was always Miller's Tropic of Cancer that broke the ice.

Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer in the college curriculum of one happy teacher

Tropic of Cancer is "not a book in the ordinary sense of the word," (5) it is "a song.

The embodied American: the cosomological eye and the river through

How many continents does the Tropic of Cancer pass through?--

Start an adventure in Geography

The book reinforces the importance of June Mansfield as a muse for Miller and provides a succinct summary of how Miller came to write Tropic of Cancer that is not so readily available elsewhere for twenty-first century readers.

Miller notes

I thought about step ping in front of a train." The Tropic of Cancer presenter admits prep aring to jump from a motorway bridge aged 17.

Reeve: I was suicidal as a teenage rebel

The Tropic of Cancer presenter admits preparing to jump from a motorway bridge aged 17.

Reeve: I was suicidal as a teenage rebel

The Tropics are a region of the Earth, roughly defined as the area between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn.

Int'l Day of the Tropics to be mark on June 29

Tribune News Network Doha JUNE 21 (Thursday) will be the longest day of the year with the summer solstice to start on this day and the sun to be exactly vertical on the Tropic of Cancer in northern hemisphere, Qatar Calendar House announced on Tuesday.