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, 634–644]
3. Dick, Mr. odd but harmless old gentleman. [Br. Lit.: David Copperfield]
4. Doolittle, Doctor veterinarian who talks to animals. [Children’s Lit.: Dr. Doolittle ]
5. Flite, Miss “ancient” ward in Chancery. [Br. Lit.: Bleak House ]
6. Great-Aunt Dymphna outlandish dresser who pointedly doesn’t eat meat. [Children’s Lit.: The Growing Summer, Fisher 124–127]
7. Havisham, Miss jilted bride turns into witchlike old woman. [Br. Lit.: Great Expectations ]
8. Longstocking, Pippi outrageous, rebellious, imaginative child. [Children’s Lit.: Pippi Longstocking ]
9. Madeline individualist; only girl “out of line.” [Children’s 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. [Children’s Lit.: Mary Poppins, Fisher, 218]
13. Salus, St. Simeon behaved queerly to share outcasts’ contempt. [Christian Hagiog.: Attwater, 311]

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.

eccentricity, in astronomy: see orbit.