Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- interjection Used to express triumph upon finding or discovering something.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Literally, I have found (it): the reputed exclamation of Archimedes when, after long study, he discovered a method of detecting the amount of alloy in King Hiero's crown (see
crown problem , under crown); hence, an exclamation of triumph at a discovery or supposed discovery.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- The exclamation attributed to Archimedes, who is said to have cried out “
Eureka !eureka !” (I have found it! I have found it!), upon suddenly discovering a method of finding out how much the gold of King Hiero's crown had been alloyed. Hence, an expression of triumph concerning a discovery.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- interjection An exclamation indicating sudden discovery.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an alloy of copper and nickel with high electrical resistance and a low temperature coefficient; used as resistance wire
- noun a town in northwest California on an arm of the Pacific Ocean
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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BLOODSWORTH: Well, I had what they call a eureka moment at that time.
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BLOODSWORTH: Well, I had what they call a eureka moment at that time.
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Interviewed at his office in Madison, Halzen said he's forgotten his "eureka" moment back in 1987.
IceCube opens up a window on energy in the universe Eric Niiler 2011
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I never experienced a "eureka" moment, but various experiences and impressions began to flow together, like tributary streams into a river, and I started writing.
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My teacher's remark undoubtedly stuck in the mind, but I'm not sure if there was a single "eureka" moment so much as a gradual snowballing of interest.
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I think the greatest single "eureka" moment was deciding that this novel can be written in an epistolary form, even though I "just" did that with The Red Tree.
Down to the Bloody White Bone greygirlbeast 2010
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Interviewed at his office in Madison, Halzen said he's forgotten his "eureka" moment back in 1987.
IceCube opens up a window on energy in the universe Eric Niiler 2011
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I think the greatest single "eureka" moment was deciding that this novel can be written in an epistolary form, even though I "just" did that with The Red Tree.
Down to the Bloody White Bone greygirlbeast 2010
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"The 'eureka' moment was when I realized that the head is very well protected because the scalp prevents rotation by sliding over the skull on impact," he says.
Blue Sky Thinking Esther Spaarwater 2010
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Q: Have you ever had any "eureka" moments while studying animal behavior?
Wayne Pacelle: A Beautiful Mind: Exploring the Emotional Lives of Animals 2010
treeseed commented on the word eureka
Eureka (Greek "I have found it") is an exclamation used as an interjection to celebrate a discovery.
It is most famously attributed to the ancient Greek scholar Archimedes; he reportedly said "eureka!" when he stepped into a bath and noticed the water level rise -- he suddenly understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged. This meant that the volume of irregular objects could be calculated with precision, a previously intractable problem. He is said to have been so eager to share it that he leapt out of his bathtub and ran through the streets of Syracuse naked.
_Wikipedia
February 7, 2008
deola commented on the word eureka
Edgar Allan Poe's title of one of his longer works; the title represents his explanation of the universe.
June 10, 2010
qms commented on the word eureka
Thanks and congratulations to erinmckean! It is good to start the new year with the Community page restored.
December 30, 2014