Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In mathematics, related to the lemniscate of Bernoulli.
  • In ichthyology, having a hyaline or transparent appearance and ribbonlike form; of or relating to the Lemniscati: as, a lemniscate fish.
  • noun In mathematics:
  • noun The locus of the point at which the tangent to an equilateral hyperbola meets the perpendicular let fall upon it from the center: a curve invented by James Bernoulli.
  • noun Any crunodal curve of the fourth order having only one real branch, and this finite and symmetrical with respect to two axes.
  • noun The locus of the point at which the tangent to a fixed conic is cut by a perpendicular let fall upon it from the center.
  • noun A Cassinian: a misapplication of the word originating in Germany.
  • noun The locus of the point in which the straight through the center and the projection of a point of a circle on a fixed tangent are cut by the perpendicular from this point to the diameter from the contact point.

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

  • noun The infinity symbol ().
  • noun mathematics Any closed curve (similar to a figure eight) described by a Cartesian equation of the form .

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin lēmniscātus ("decorated with ribbons").

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Examples

  • 'lemniscate', a particular modification of the so-called Cassinian curves. 2 1

    Man or Matter Ernst Lehrs

  • Her gaze was caught on the glowing wand and lemniscate, and she thought of radiation.

    Rogue Oracle 2011

  • Her gaze was caught on the glowing wand and lemniscate, and she thought of radiation.

    Rogue Oracle 2011

  • A lemniscate, an infinity symbol, glowed above his head.

    Rogue Oracle 2011

  • A lemniscate, an infinity symbol, glowed above his head.

    Rogue Oracle 2011

  • You mentioned lemniscate periodic systems in one of your chemistry blogs.

    Table Manners Michelle 2009

  • The one Ariel did recognize shone bright white in the center of the robot's upper torso, a lemniscate crossed by an arrow at an upward angle: the sign of the Managins.

    Mirage Tiedemann, Mark W. 2000

  • Some projective-geometrical considerations concerning the lemniscate are to be found in the previously mentioned writings of G. Adams and L. L.cher-Ernst.

    Man or Matter Ernst Lehrs

  • You have read, too, in _The Secret Doctrine, _ P.ofessor Crooke's theory, endorsed by H.P. Blavatsky, as to how the chemical elements were deposited by a spiral evolutive force, a creative impulse working outward in the form of a caduceus or lemniscate, or figure '8.'

    The Crest-Wave of Evolution A Course of Lectures in History, Given to the Graduates' Class in the Raja-Yoga College, Point Loma, in the College-Year 1918-19 Kenneth Morris 1908

  • About the epoch of maximum of sun-spots they are large and nearly circular, having the same character as the curves for the summer months; whilst about the time of sun-spot minimum they are small and lemniscate-shaped, with a striking resemblance to the curves for the winter months.

    Autobiography Airy, George Biddell, Sir 1896

Comments

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  • Describes a certain kind of figure-of-eight mathematical curve, an example of which is the infinity sign .

    The Latin root is lēmniscus, from the Greek λημνίσκος, lêmniskos, both referring to ribbons.

    November 28, 2007

  • Not to be confused with a loxodrome

    November 28, 2007

  • nor with Lissajou's figures.

    August 26, 2008

  • See: limaçon (Heart-like shape for Valentines Day)

    January 28, 2009

  • Erect he's the humble number eight

    But, privileged to help out the great,

    And supple and nimble,

    Reclines as a symbol,

    So toppled becomes the lemniscate.

    May 5, 2017

  • In Nabokov's Pale Fire, the poetic lemniscate, left by bicycle tires in wet sand in line 137 of poet character Shade's masterpiece gets a comic gloss in Charles Kinbote's pseudo-academic "Commentary," where he complains: "'A unicursal bicircular quartic' says my weary old dictionary. I cannot understand what this has to do with bicycling and suspect that Shade's phrase has no real meaning." The weary old definition is nearly as nice as another gruesome dictionary's "the locus of the foot of the perpendicular from the centre of a conic upon the tangent"!!

    August 11, 2020