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Webster 1913 Edition

Polarity

Po-lar′i-ty

,
Noun.
[Cf. F.
polarité
.]
1.
(Physics)
That quality or condition of a body in virtue of which it exhibits opposite, or contrasted, properties or powers, in opposite, or contrasted, parts or directions; or a condition giving rise to a contrast of properties corresponding to a contrast of positions,
as, for example, attraction and repulsion in the opposite parts of a magnet, the dissimilar phenomena corresponding to the different sides of a polarized ray of light, etc.
2.
(Geom.)
A property of the conic sections by virtue of which a given point determines a corresponding right line and a given right line determines a corresponding point. See
Polar
,
Noun.

Webster 1828 Edition

Polarity

POLAR'ITY

,
Noun.
That quality of a body in virtue of which peculiar properties reside in certain points; usually, as in electrified or magnetized bodies, properties of attraction or repulsion, or the power of taking a certain direction. Thus we speak of the polarity of the magnet or magnetic needle, whose pole is not always that of the earth, but a point somewhat easterly or westerly; and the deviation of the needle from a north and south line is called its variation. A mineral is said to possess polarity, when it attracts one pole of a magnetic needle and repels the other.

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