diastem

diastem

English

Etymology

Latin diastema.

Noun

diastem (plural diastems)

1. Intervening space; interval.
   • 1972, Yusuke Hagihara, Celestial Mechanics: Perturbation Theory, MIT Press

     A space curve contained between two concentric spheres and with its concave side facing always toward the common center of the two spheres is said to be periplegmatic. The radius vector of a periplegmatic curve is of length between the radii of the two spheres. At the maxima and minima of the radius vector the curve touches respectively the larger or smaller of the two limiting spheres. The radial distance between such a maximum and minimum is called the diastem.

2. (obsolete, music) An interval.
3. (geology) A minor depositional break.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for diastem in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

Anagrams

• Mid East, Mideast, amidest, damsite, misdate