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Helix   /hˈilɪks/   Listen
noun
Helix  n.  (pl. L. helices, E. helixes)  
1.
(Geom.) A nonplane curve whose tangents are all equally inclined to a given plane. The common helix is the curve formed by the thread of the ordinary screw. It is distinguished from the spiral, all the convolutions of which are in the plane.
2.
(Arch.) A caulicule or little volute under the abacus of the Corinthian capital.
3.
(Anat.) The incurved margin or rim of the external ear.
4.
(Zool.) A genus of land snails, including a large number of species. Note: The genus originally included nearly all shells, but is now greatly restricted. See Snail, Pulmonifera.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Helix" Quotes from Famous Books



... its vertical dimension, by a moving plane. If necessary to assist the mind, suspend a spiral spring above a pail of water, then raise the pail until the coils, one after another, become immersed. The spring would represent the helix, and the surface of the water the moving plane. Concentrating attention upon this surface, you would see a point—the elliptical cross-section of the wire where it intersected the plane—moving round and round in a circle. ...
— Four-Dimensional Vistas • Claude Fayette Bragdon

... are all univalves. The most important genera among these, both in a recent and fossil state, are Helix (Figure 38), Cyclostoma (Figure 39), Pupa (Figure 40), Clausilia (Figure 41) Bulimus (Figure 42), Glandina ...
— The Student's Elements of Geology • Sir Charles Lyell

... one of the coils, A, with the battery by means of the wires, the action of a helix or solenoid is shown. When so connected, the helix will draw up with itself a barrel pen, or any light iron or steel object. (See Fig. 4.) This is not a true solenoid, but it is generally known by that name. In a true solenoid one of the ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 794, March 21, 1891 • Various

... turns, as in experiment Fig. 17, has one of its ends connected to one of the terminals of the induction coil, and the other to a metal plate, or, for the sake of simplicity, a sphere, insulated in space. When the coil is set to work, the potential of the sphere is alternated, and the small helix now behaves as though its free end were connected to the other terminal of the induction coil. If an iron rod be held within the small helix it is quickly brought to a high temperature, indicating the passage of a strong ...
— Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High - Frequency • Nikola Tesla

... bladder, which I observed in specimens caught in the Severn River to the southward of Moreton Bay: on examining the intestines of this fish, they were full of the shells of Limnaea and Cyclas. Large specimens of helix were frequent on the Vervain Plains, but they were only dead shells. The fat-hen (Atriplex) and the sow-thistle (Sonchus) grew abundantly on the reedy flats at the upper end of the creek; Grewia, a prostrate Myoporum, and a bean with yellow ...
— Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia • Ludwig Leichhardt

... in shaping and modelling wood. It brings into play the principle of the helix as used in cutting threads, etc.; and its form, size and shape may be varied according to the taste of the individual. As in threads so in spiral work we have single and double spirals, and their form and proportion depend upon their use and application in furniture making. A variation ...
— A Course In Wood Turning • Archie S. Milton and Otto K. Wohlers

... quantities of Ambatch wood (Anemone mirabilis)—this wood, of less specific gravity than cork, is generally used for rafts; at this season it is in full bloom, its bright yellow blossoms enlivening the dismal swamps. Secured very fine specimens of a variety of helix from the floating islands. In this spot the river is from 1500 yards to a mile wide; the country, flat and uninteresting, being the usual scattered thorn bushes and arid plains, the only actual timber being confined to the borders of the river. Course, always south ...
— The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile • Sir Samuel White Baker

... degrees of latitude which lay between me and the former scenes of my studies were not without their influence on both the animal and vegetable kingdoms. The group of land-shells was different, in at least its proportions; and one well-marked mollusc—the large tortoise-shell helix (helix aspersa), very abundant in this neighbourhood—I had never seen in the north at all. I formed, too, my first acquaintance in this woody, bush-skirted walk, with the hedgehog in its wild state—an animal which does not occur to the north of the Moray Firth. I saw, besides, ...
— My Schools and Schoolmasters - or The Story of my Education. • Hugh Miller



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