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Webster 1913 Edition

Colure

Co-lure′

(kō̍-lūr′)
,
Noun.
;
pl.
Colures
(kō̍-lūrz′)
.
[F.
colure
, L.
coluri
, pl., fr. Gr.
κόλουροσ
dock-tailed,
αἱ κόλουροι
(sc.
γραμμαί
lines) the colures; fr.
κόλοσ
docked, stunted +
οὐρά
tail. So named because a part is always beneath the horizon.]
(Astron. & Geog.)
One of two great circles intersecting at right angles in the poles of the equator. One of them passes through the equinoctial points, and hence is denominated the equinoctial colure; the other intersects the equator at the distance of 90° from the former, and is called the solstitial colure.
Thrice the equinoctial line
He circled; four times crossed the car of night
From pole to pole, traversing each
colure
.
Milton.

Webster 1828 Edition

Colure

COLURE

,
Noun.
In astronomy and geography, the colures are two great circles supposed to intersect each other at right angles, in the poles of the world, one of them passing through the solstitial and the other through the equinoctial points of the ecliptic,
viz.
Cancer and Capricorn, Aries and Libra, dividing the ecliptic into four equal parts. The points where these lines intersect the ecliptic are called cardinal points.

Definition 2024

colure

colure

English

Noun

colure ‎(plural colures)

  1. (astronomy) Either of two great circles (meridians) that intersect at the poles and either the equinoxes or solstices.

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