surface : Idioms & Phrases

• adjective operating from or designed to be fired from aircraft at targets on the ground
  air-to-ground.
  
  • air-to-surface missiles

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• noun a missile designed to be launched from an airplane at a target on the ground
  air-to-ground missile.
  

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• a certain class of surfaces of the fourth degree.

Webster 1913

• (Optics), a surface to which rays reflected or refracted by another surface are tangents. Caustic curves and surfaces are called catacaustic when formed by reflection, and diacaustic when formed by refraction.

Webster 1913

• etc. See under Caustic, Heating, etc.

Webster 1913

• (Geom.) (a) A point such that every line drawn through the point and terminated by the curve or surface is bisected at the point. (b) The fixed point of reference in polar coördinates. See Coördinates.

Webster 1913

• verb undergo or cause to undergo a change in the surface
  

WordNet

• (Geom.), a surface described by a right line moving along any curve and always passing through a fixed point that is not in the plane of that curve.

Webster 1913

• noun a device that provides reactive force when in motion relative to the surrounding air; can lift or control a plane in flight
  airfoil; surface; aerofoil.
  

WordNet

• (Geom.), a surface described by a straight line that moves according to any law, but so as to be constantly parallel to a given line.

Webster 1913

• (Geom.), the number which expresses the degree of the equation of the curve or surface in rectilinear coördinates. A straight line will, in general, meet the curve or surface in a number of points equal to the degree of the curve or surface and no more.

Webster 1913

• (Math.), a surface described by a moving right line, and such that consecutive positions of the generator intersect each other. Hence, the surface can be developed into a plane.

Webster 1913

• (Geom.), any line or surface which bisects a system of parallel chords drawn in a curve or surface.

Webster 1913

• noun the outermost level of the land or sea
  surface.
  
  • earthquakes originate far below the surface
  • three quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by water

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• a surface for which the potential is for all points of the surface constant. Level surfaces on the earth are equipotential.

Webster 1913

• (Steam Boilers), that part of the heating surface with which water is in contact.

Webster 1913

• (Geom.), a group of curves or surfaces derived from a single equation.

Webster 1913

• that surface of an object which comes with another object to which it is fastened; said of plates, angle irons, etc., that are riveted together in shipwork.

Webster 1913

• the surfaces of a steam boiler which are exposed to the direct heat of the fuel and the products of combustion; heating surface.

Webster 1913

• (Steam Boiler), the aggregate surface of flues exposed to flame or the hot gases.

Webster 1913

• (Steam, Boiler) the area of the surface of the grate upon which the fuel lies in the furnace.

Webster 1913

• verb cover with asphalt or a similar surface
  
  • hard-surface roads

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• (Steam Boilers), the aggregate surface exposed to fire or to the heated products of combustion, esp. of all the plates or sheets that are exposed to water on their opposite surfaces; called also fire surface.

Webster 1913

• noun a flat surface at right angles to a plumb line
  level.
  
  • park the car on the level

WordNet

• etc. (Geom.), points, lines, surfaces, etc., imagined to exist, although by reason of certain changes of a figure they have in fact ceased to have a real existence.

Webster 1913

• noun surface tension at the surface separating two non-miscible liquids
  interfacial tension.
  

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• (Physics), an equipotential surface at right angles at every point to the lines of force.

Webster 1913

• noun the agency that provides scientific and engineering and technical support for all aspects of surface warfare
  NSWC.
  

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• (Mech.), that line or plane, in a beam under transverse pressure, at which the fibers are neither stretched nor compressed, or where the longitudinal stress is zero. See Axis.

Webster 1913

• noun a level horizontal surface covered with paving material
  

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• (Geom.), the curve or surface which is the locus of the feet of perpendiculars let fall from a fixed point upon the straight lines tangent to a given curve, or upon the planes tangent to a given surface.

Webster 1913

• an equation which expresses the relation between the polar coördinates of every point of the line or surface.

Webster 1913

• noun an area of closely cropped grass surrounding the hole on a golf course
  putting green; green.
  
  • the ball rolled across the green and into the bunker

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• noun a curve or surface whose equation (in Cartesian coordinates) is of the second degree
  quadric.
  

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• noun the paved surface of a paved roadway
  

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• (Geom.), any surface that may be described by a straight line moving according to a given law; called also a scroll.

Webster 1913

• (Geom.), a ruled surface such that in general two successive generating straight lines do not intersect; a warped surface; as, the helicoid is a skew surface.

Webster 1913

• noun the extent of a 2-dimensional surface enclosed within a boundary
  expanse; area.
  
  • the area of a rectangle
  • it was about 500 square feet in area

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• noun the accumulation of molecules of a gas to form a thin film on the surface of a solid
  adsorption.
  

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• noun the branch of chemistry that studies processes occurring at interfaces between phases (especially those between liquid and gas)
  

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• . See under Condensation, and Condenser.

Webster 1913

• noun a forest fire that burns only the surface litter and undergrowth
  

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• noun gauge consisting of a scriber mounted on an adjustable stand; used to test the accuracy of plane surfaces
  scribing block; surface gage.
  

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• noun gauge consisting of a scriber mounted on an adjustable stand; used to test the accuracy of plane surfaces
  scribing block; surface gage.
  

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• (Mach.), an instrument consisting of a standard having a flat base and carrying an adjustable pointer, for gauging the evenness of a surface or its height, or for marking a line parallel with a surface.

Webster 1913

• (Zoöl.), the larva of the great yellow underwing moth (Triphoena pronuba). It is often destructive to the roots of grasses and other plants.

Webster 1913

• noun a ski tow that pulls skiers up a slope without lifting them off the ground
  

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• noun mail that is sent by land or sea
  

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• verb extract (ore) from a strip-mine
  surface mine; strip mine.
  

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• noun noise produced by the friction of the stylus of a record player moving over the rotating record
  

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• (Mach.), a plate having an accurately dressed flat surface, used as a standard of flatness by which to test other surfaces.

Webster 1913

• printing from a surface in relief, as from type, in distinction from plate printing, in which the ink is contained in engraved lines.

Webster 1913

• noun a naval radar to search for surface targets
  

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• noun a warship that operates on the surface of the water
  

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• noun the layer of soil on the surface
  topsoil.
  

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• noun a phenomenon at the surface of a liquid caused by intermolecular forces
  

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• adjective satellite capable of lowering the surface tension of a liquid; used especially of detergents
  

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• noun a chemical agent capable of reducing the surface tension of a liquid in which it is dissolved
  surfactant; wetter; wetting agent.
  

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• adjective having capacity or tendency to adsorb or cause to accumulate on a surface
  adsorbent; adsorptive.
  

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• verb extract (ore) from a strip-mine
  surface mine; strip mine.
  

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• adjective operating from or designed to be launched from the ground against an airborne target
  
  • surface-to-air missiles

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• noun a guided missile fired from land or shipboard against an airborne target
  SAM.
  

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• noun the shipboard system that fires missiles at aircraft
  

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• (Geom.), to produce on the plane an equivalent surface, as if by rolling the curved surface so that all parts shall successively touch the plane.

Webster 1913

• (Geom.), a surface described by a straight line moving according to any law whatever, yet so that the consecutive positions of the line shall not be in one plane; a warped surface.

Webster 1913

• noun the side that is uppermost
  

WordNet

• . (Steam Boilers) See Evaporating surface, under Evaporate, v. t.

Webster 1913

• (Math.), the point in which the axis pierces the surface.

Webster 1913

• noun a surface that is vertical
  

WordNet

• (Geom.), a surface generated by a straight line moving so that no two of its consecutive positions shall be in the same plane.

Webster 1913

• . (a) (Physics) A surface of simultaneous and equal displacement of the particles composing a wave of vibration. (b) (Geom.) A mathematical surface of the fourth order which, upon certain hypotheses, is the locus of a wave surface of light in the interior of crystals. It is used in explaining the phenomena of double refraction. See under Refraction.

Webster 1913

• noun a horizontal surface for supporting objects used in working or playing games
  

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