Adjacent Words

Quadrature definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

QUAD'RATURE, n. [L. quadratura.]
1. The act of squaring; the reducing of a figure to a square. Thus the finding of a square which shall contain just as much area as a circle or a triangle, is the quadrature of that circle or triangle.
2. A quadrate; a square.
3. In astronomy, the aspect of the moon when distant from the sun 90 degrees or a quarter of the circle; or when the moon is at an equal distance from the points of conjunction and opposition.
Quadrature of curves, in mathematics, the finding of rectilineal figures containing the same areas as figures bounded by curved lines.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the construction of a square having the same area as some other figure

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1591 1. a configuration in which two celestial bodies (as the moon and the sun) have an angular separation of 90 degrees as seen from the earth 2. the process of finding a square equal in area to a given area

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 Math. the process of constructing a square with an area equal to that of a figure bounded by a curve, e.g. a circle. 2 Astron. a each of two points at which the moon is 90° from the sun as viewed from earth. b the position of a heavenly body in relation to another 90° away. Etymology: F quadrature or L quadratura (as QUADRATE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quadrature Quad"ra*ture, n. [L. quadratura: cf. F. quadrature. See Quadrate, a.] 1. (Math.) The act of squaring; the finding of a square having the same area as some given curvilinear figure; as, the quadrature of a circle; the operation of finding an expression for the area of a figure bounded wholly or in part by a curved line, as by a curve, two ordinates, and the axis of abscissas. 2. A quadrate; a square. --Milton. 3. (Integral Calculus) The integral used in obtaining the area bounded by a curve; hence, the definite integral of the product of any function of one variable into the differential of that variable. 4. (Astron.) The position of one heavenly body in respect to another when distant from it 90[deg], or a quarter of a circle, as the moon when at an equal distance from the points of conjunction and opposition. Quadrature of the moon (Astron.), the position of the moon when one half of the disk is illuminated. Quadrature of an orbit (Astron.), a point in an orbit which is at either extremity of the latus rectum drawn through the empty focus of the orbit.