Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to a member of the Italian and French family Cassini, which produced four generations of astronomers, 1625-1845. Also Cassinoid.
  • a bicircular quartic curve, the locus of a point the product of whose distances from two fixed points is constant. The Cartesian equation is (x + y + a)—4ax = m. If ma, the real curve consists of two ovals; if ma, it consists of one; and if m = a, it becomes the lemniscate. Cassinians are curves of the eighth class (except the lemniscate, which is of the sixth), and have four stationary tangents on the absolute.
  • noun A Cassinian oval.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In each case the mollusc is a loose fit in its burrow, having ample room for rotation, but the aperture of the latter is what is known as a cassinian oval, and generally projects slightly above the surface of the coral.

    My Tropic Isle 2003

  • In each case the mollusc is a loose fit in its burrow, having ample room for rotation, but the aperture of the latter is what is known as a cassinian oval, and generally projects slightly above the surface of the coral.

    My Tropic Isle 1887

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