Eccentricity

views updated May 21 2018

206. Eccentricity

  1. Addams Family weird family, presented in grotesque domesticity. [TV: Terrace, I, 29]
  2. Boynton, Nanny travels with set of Encyclopaedia Britannica to settle disputes. [Am. Lit.: Percy in Stories, 634644]
  3. Dick, Mr. odd but harmless old gentleman. [Br. Lit.: David Copperfield]
  4. Doolittle, Doctor veterinarian who talks to animals. [Childrens Lit.: Dr. Doolittle ]
  5. Flite, Miss ancient ward in Chancery. [Br. Lit.: Bleak House ]
  6. Great-Aunt Dymphna outlandish dresser who pointedly doesnt eat meat. [Childrens Lit.: The Growing Summer, Fisher 124127]
  7. Havisham, Miss jilted bride turns into witchlike old woman. [Br. Lit.: Great Expectations ]
  8. Longstocking, Pippi outrageous, rebellious, imaginative child. [Childrens Lit.: Pippi Longstocking ]
  9. Madeline individualist; only girl out of line. [Childrens Lit.: Madeline, Fisher, 196]
  10. Madwoman of Chaillot delightfully pixilated old woman manages to exploit the Parisian exploiters. [Fr. Lit.: The Madwoman of Chaillot, Benét, 618]
  11. Pickwick, Mr. (Samuel) jolly conformist who understands anything but the obvious. [Br. Lit.: Pickwick Papers ]
  12. Poppins, Mary English nanny who practises levitation, flies up chimneys, etc. [Childrens Lit.: Mary Poppins, Fisher, 218]
  13. Salus, St. Simeon behaved queerly to share outcasts contempt. [Christian Hagiog.: Attwater, 311]

eccentricity

views updated May 23 2018

eccentricity (symbol e) One of the elements of an orbit. It indicates how much an elliptical orbit departs from a circle. It is found by dividing the distance between the two foci of the ellipse by the length of the major axis. A circle has an eccentricity of 0, a parabola an eccentricity of 1.