Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A loxodromic line.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun mathematics A
line on asurface (such as theEarth ) that cuts allmeridians at a constantangle (but not aright angle ). - noun nautical The
path followed by aship oraircraft that maintains aconstant course by thecompass .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a line on a sphere that cuts all meridians at the same angle; the path taken by a ship or plane that maintains a constant compass direction
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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Mercator also produced the first globe to have rhumb lines (1541), based on his observation that a ship sailing towards the same point of the compass would follow a curve called a loxodrome (also called a rhumb line or spherical helix).
Mercator, Gerardus 2009
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In "De arte navigandi" he announced his discovery and analysis of the curve of double curvature called the rumbus, better known as loxodrome, which is the line traced by a ship cutting the meridians at a constant angle.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 11: New Mexico-Philip 1840-1916 1913
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his vocabulary alone is worth the cover price - gantries, quinquireme, discalced, carrack, loxodrome, godown, scutch, so shrewd in his deployment of detail, so blessed with good luck and goodwill that we forget the conceit and just enjoy the ride.
The Seattle Times 2010
cordycerps commented on the word loxodrome
This is a feature of a Mercator projection of the Earth, and why such maps was useful in their day.
November 6, 2009
ruzuzu commented on the word loxodrome
Cf. lemniscate.
August 8, 2022