Cylinder

Quick meaning: Cylinder is a noun meaning (geometry) A surface created by projecting a closed two-dimensional curve along an axis intersecting the plane of the curve.

Meaning

(geometry) A surface created by projecting a closed two-dimensional curve along an axis intersecting the plane of the curve.

More Meanings

1. (geometry) A solid figure bounded by a cylinder and two parallel planes intersecting the cylinder.
2. Any object in the form of a circular cylinder.
3. A cylindrical cavity or chamber in a mechanism, such as the counterpart to a piston found in a piston-driven engine.
4. (automotive) The space in which a piston travels inside a reciprocating engine or pump.
5. A container in the form of a cylinder with rounded ends for storing pressurized gas; a gas cylinder.
6. An early form of phonograph recording, made on a wax cylinder.
7. The part of a revolver that contains chambers for the cartridges.

Example Sentences

A big greyish rounded bulk, the size, perhaps, of a bear, was rising slowly and painfully out of the cylinder.

When the two-dimensional curve is a circle, the cylinder is called a circular cylinder. When the axis is perpendicular to the plane of the curve, the cylinder is called a right cylinder. In non-mathematical usage, both right and circular are usually implied.

Word Forms

• cylinders
• cylindering
• cylindered

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include cylindrical, actuator, quart, bomb, specimen, circuit.

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