perpendicular meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

perpendicular

adjalso spelled Perpendicular

UK /ˌpɜː.pənˈdɪk.jə.lə(ɹ)/ · CA, US /ˌpɝ.pənˈdɪk.ju.lɚ/

Etymology Derived from Middle French perpendiculaire, from Old French perpendiculer, from Latin perpendiculum (“plumb line”).

Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences At or forming a right angle (to something).

In most houses, the walls are perpendicular to the floor.
A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place. Applying a force tangential to the knob is essentially equivalent to applying one perpendicular to a radial line defining the lever.2012 March 23, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3:

Exactly upright; extending in a straight line toward the centre of the earth, etc.

Independent of or irrelevant to each other; orthogonal.

Hey, I'm not unsabotaging anything! This is completely perpendicular sabotage!2019 May 31, David M. Willis, “Wrangled”, in Dumbing of Age:

Derived terms: nonperpendicular, perpendicular axis theorem, perpendicular bisector, perpendicular distance, perpendicularity, perpendicularly, perpendicular magnetic recording, perpendicularness, perpendicular pronoun, perpendicular recording, perpendicular universe, quasiperpendicular, slantendicular, subperpendicular

perpendicular

noun

Etymology Derived from Middle French perpendiculaire, from Old French perpendiculer, from Latin perpendiculum (“plumb line”).

Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences A line or plane that is perpendicular to another.

A device such as a plumb line that is used in making or marking a perpendicular line.

Obsolete, Slang A meal eaten at a tavern bar while standing up.

Related terms: ⟂

Perpendicular

adj

Architecture Of a style of English Gothic architecture from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, marked by stiff and rectilinear lines, mostly vertical window-tracery, depressed or four-centre arch, fan-tracery vaulting, and panelled walls.