Reference  |  Webster's Dictionary  |  U  |  Unheard-of to Unilateral

U — Unheard-of to Unilateral (Part 4 of 6)

5. (Mil.) A howitzer. [Obs.]

Fossil unicorn, or Fossil unicorn's horn (Med.), a substance formerly of great repute in medicine; — named from having been supposed to be the bone or the horn of the unicorn.Unicorn fish, Unicorn whale (Zoöl.), the narwhal.Unicorn moth (Zoöl.), a notodontian moth (Cœlodasys unicornis) whose caterpillar has a prominent horn on its back; — called also unicorn prominent.Unicorn root (Bot.), a name of two North American plants, the yellow-flowered colicroot (Aletris farinosa) and the blazing star Both are used in medicine.Unicorn shell (Zoöl.), any one of several species of marine gastropods having a prominent spine on the lip of the shell. Most of them belong to the genera Monoceros and Leucozonia.

Unicornous
(U`ni*cor"nous) a. [See Unicorn.] (Zoöl.) Having but a single horn; — said of certain insects. "Unicornous beetles." Sir T. Browne.

Unicostate
(U`ni*cos"tate) a. [Uni- + costate.] (Bot.) Having a single rib or strong nerve running upward from the base; — said of a leaf.

Unicursal
(U`ni*cur"sal) a. [Uni- + L. currere, cursum, to run.] (Geom.) That can be passed over in a single course; — said of a curve when the coördinates of the point on the curve can be expressed as rational algebraic functions of a single parameter &theta.

As θ varies minus infinity to plus infinity, to each value of θ there corresponds one, and only one, point of the curve, while to each point on the curve there corresponds one, and only one, value of &theta. Straight lines, conic sections, curves of the third order with a nodal point, curves of the fourth order with three double points, etc., are unicursal.

Unideaed
(Un`i*de"aed) a. Having no ideas; senseless; frivolous. "Unideaed girls." Mrs. Hemans.

He [Bacon] received the unideaed page [Villiers] into his intimacy.
Lord Campbell.

Unideal
(Un`i*de"al) a.

1. Not ideal; real; unimaginative.

2. Unideaed. [R.] Johnson.

Unidimensional
(Un`i*di*men"sion*al) a. [Uni- + dimensional.] (Math.) Having but one dimension. See Dimension.

Unifacial
(U`ni*fa"cial) a. [Uni- + facial.] Having but one front surface; as, some foliaceous corals are unifacial, the polyp mouths being confined to one surface.

Unific
(U*nif"ic) a. Making one or unity; unifying.

Unification
(U`ni*fi*ca"tion) n. [See Unify.] The act of unifying, or the state of being unified.

Unification with God was the final aim of the Neoplatonicians.
Fleming.

Unifier
(U"ni*fi`er) n. One who, or that which, unifies; as, a natural law is a unifier of phenomena.

Unifilar
(U`ni*fi"lar) a. [Uni- + L. filum a thread.] Having only one thread; involving the use of only one thread, wire, fiber, or the like; as, unifilar suspension.

Unifilar magnetometer (Physics), an instrument which consists of a magnetic bar suspended at its center of gravity by a long thread, constituting a delicate means for accurately measuring magnetic intensities, also for determining declinations of the magnetic needle.