13 February 2009

trapezium, trapezia

This word also comes from the poem "Duggan Celebrates St. Patrick's Day," a nice piece of verse to which I have referred elsewhere.

He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease,
That daring young man on the flying trapeze.
His movements were graceful, all girls he could please
And my love he purloined away.

(I copied these lyrics from a website where the lyrics to the entire song may be seen. I take no responsibility for their accuracy or lack thereof.)


Trapezia! Trapezoid, trapezium, no parallel sides. The flying trapezium.
Trap. Easy. Yum.

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Trapezia
Trapezium Tra*pe"zi*um, n.; pl. E. Trapeziums, L.
Trapezia. [NL., fr. Gr. ? a little table, an irregular
four-sided figure, dim. of ? a table, for ?; ? (see Tetra-)
+ ? foot, akin to ? foot; hence, originally, a table with
four feet. See Foot.]
1. (Geom.) A plane figure bounded by four right lines, of
which no two are parallel.
[1913 Webster]

2. (Anat.)
(a) A bone of the carpus at the base of the first
metacarpal, or thumb.
(b) A region on the ventral side of the brain, either just
back of the pons Varolii, or, as in man, covered by
the posterior extension of its transverse fibers.
[1913 Webster]

-- From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

trapezium
n 1: a quadrilateral with no parallel sides [ant: parallelogram]
2: a multiple star in the constellation of Orion [syn: the
Trapezium]
3: the wrist bone on the thumb side of the hand that
articulates with the 1st and 2nd metacarpals [syn: trapezium
bone, trapezium}]
[also: trapezia (pl)]

-- From WordNet (r) 2.0

trapezia
See trapezium

-- From WordNet (r) 2.0

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