Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of a series of projections on a shaft that fit into slots on a corresponding shaft, enabling both to rotate together.
  • noun The groove or slot for such a projection.
  • noun A flexible piece of wood, hard rubber, or metal used in drawing curves.
  • noun A wooden or metal strip; a slat.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To fit with a spline.
  • noun In machinery, a rectangular piece or key fitting into a groove in the hub of a wheel, and a similar groove in a shaft, so that, while the wheel may slide endwise on the shaft, both must revolve together. See cut under paint-mill.
  • noun A flexible strip of wood or hard rubber used by draftsmen in laying out broad sweeping curves, especially in railroad work.
  • noun In building, a thin piece of board, especially when used under certain conditions, as in light and thin ceiling, the filling of large panels like the backs of seats in a church, or the curved outer shell of the centering for an arch.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A rectangular piece fitting grooves like key seats in a hub and a shaft, so that while the one may slide endwise on the other, both must revolve together; a feather; also, sometimes, a groove to receive such a rectangular piece.
  • noun A long, flexble piece of wood sometimes used as a ruler.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A rectangular piece that fits grooves like key seats in a hub and a shaft, so that while the one may slide endwise on the other, both must revolve together.
  • noun A flexible strip of metal or other material, that may be bent into a curve and used in a similar manner to a ruler to draw smooth curves between points.
  • noun mathematics, computing Any of a number of smooth curves used to join points.
  • noun woodworking A strip of wood or other material inserted into grooves in each of two pieces of wood to provide additional surface for gluing.
  • verb mathematics, computing To smooth (a curve or surface) by means of a spline.
  • verb engineering To fit with a spline.
  • verb engineering To fasten to or together with a spline.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a thin strip (wood or metal)
  • noun a flexible strip (wood or rubber) used in drawing curved lines

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

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Examples

  • (The word spline is often incorrectly used for this.)

    The Home-Built Rod 2003

  • "exposure" would have taught them that a spline is a small piece of wood inserted to keep a mortise joint tight.

    The Tests and the Brightest 1980

  • In most aluminum-framed screens, the screen material is held in place by a vinyl bead called spline which is inserted into a channel that runs the entire perimeter of the frame.

    Reflector - Latest Headlines from The Daily Reflector 2009

  • In most aluminum-framed screens, the screen material is held in place by a vinyl bead called spline which is inserted into a channel that runs the entire perimeter of the frame.

    Reflector - Latest Headlines from The Daily Reflector 2009

  • In most aluminum-framed screens, the screen material is held in place by a vinyl bead called spline which is inserted into a channel that runs the entire perimeter of the frame.

    Reflector - Latest Headlines from The Daily Reflector 2009

  • In most aluminum-framed screens, the screen material is held in place by a vinyl bead called spline which is inserted into a channel that runs the entire perimeter of the frame.

    Reflector - Latest Headlines from The Daily Reflector 2009

  • A spline is a much more generic item, and different materials can serve as splines .... in the case you refer to, however, there is a specific kind of spline necessary.

    Saying yes... 2008

  • Only "tweak" you need to play with is along the spline is a single edge running the length of it - any texture rotated so it crosses this split-line usually don't line up - play with the texture scale to try and fix (if you're desperate to have it visually perfect ...) ...

    All Discussion Groups: Message List - root 2009

  • Imagine your animation in this case is the ball's shadow and the spline is the curve of the baseball.

    MSDN Magazine: RSS Feed 2008

  • If there were a list, using something like SketchEntities, then I'm sure I would be able to reference the Sketch Points in order since the spline was the first thing I drew in the sketch.

    All Discussion Groups: Message List - root 2008

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