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Parallel   /pˈɛrəlˌɛl/   Listen
adjective
Parallel  adj.  
1.
(Geom.) Extended in the same direction, and in all parts equally distant; as, parallel lines; parallel planes. "Revolutions... parallel to the equinoctial." Note: Curved lines or curved planes are said to be parallel when they are in all parts equally distant.
2.
Having the same direction or tendency; running side by side; being in accordance (with); tending to the same result; used with to and with. "When honor runs parallel with the laws of God and our country, it can not be too much cherished."
3.
Continuing a resemblance through many particulars; applicable in all essential parts; like; similar; as, a parallel case; a parallel passage.
Parallel bar.
(a)
(Steam Eng.) A rod in a parallel motion which is parallel with the working beam.
(b)
One of a pair of bars raised about five feet above the floor or ground, and parallel to each other, used for gymnastic exercises.
Parallel circles of a sphere, those circles of the sphere whose planes are parallel to each other.
Parallel columns, or Parallels (Printing), two or more passages of reading matter printed side by side, for the purpose of emphasizing the similarity or discrepancy between them.
Parallel forces (Mech.), forces which act in directions parallel to each other.
Parallel motion.
(a)
(Mach.) A jointed system of links, rods, or bars, by which the motion of a reciprocating piece, as a piston rod, may be guided, either approximately or exactly in a straight line.
(b)
(Mus.) The ascending or descending of two or more parts at fixed intervals, as thirds or sixths.
Parallel rod (Locomotive Eng.), a metal rod that connects the crank pins of two or more driving wheels; called also couping rod, in distinction from the connecting rod. Parallel ruler, an instrument for drawing parallel lines, so constructed as to have the successive positions of the ruling edge parallel to each other; also, one consisting of two movable parts, the opposite edges of which are always parallel.
Parallel sailing (Naut.), sailing on a parallel of latitude.
Parallel sphere (Astron. & Geog.), that position of the sphere in which the circles of daily motion are parallel to the horizon, as to an observer at either pole.
Parallel vise, a vise having jaws so guided as to remain parallel in all positions.


noun
Parallel  n.  
1.
A line which, throughout its whole extent, is equidistant from another line; a parallel line, a parallel plane, etc. "Who made the spider parallels design, Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line?"
2.
Direction conformable to that of another line, "Lines that from their parallel decline."
3.
Conformity continued through many particulars or in all essential points; resemblance; similarity. "Twixt earthly females and the moon All parallels exactly run."
4.
A comparison made; elaborate tracing of similarity; as, Johnson's parallel between Dryden and Pope.
5.
Anything equal to, or resembling, another in all essential particulars; a counterpart. "None but thyself can be thy parallel."
6.
(Geog.) One of the imaginary circles on the surface of the earth, parallel to the equator, marking the latitude; also, the corresponding line on a globe or map; as, the counry was divided into North and South at the 38th parallel.
7.
(Mil.) One of a series of long trenches constructed before a besieged fortress, by the besieging force, as a cover for troops supporting the attacking batteries. They are roughly parallel to the line of outer defenses of the fortress.
8.
(Print.) A character consisting of two parallel vertical lines (thus,) used in the text to direct attention to a similarly marked note in the margin or at the foot of a page.
9.
(Elec.) That arrangement of an electrical system in which all positive poles, electrodes, terminals, etc., are joined to one conductor, and all negative poles, etc., to another conductor; called also multiple. Opposed to series. Note: Parts of a system so arranged are said to be in parallel or in multiple.
Limiting parallels. See under Limit, v. t.
Parallel of altitude (Astron.), one of the small circles of the sphere, parallel to the horizon; an almucantar.
Parallel of declination (Astron.), one of the small circles of the sphere, parallel to the equator.
Parallel of latitude.
(a)
(Geog.) See def. 6. above.
(b)
(Astron.) One of the small circles of the sphere, parallel to the ecliptic.


verb
Parallel  v. t.  (past & past part. paralleled; pres. part. paralleling)  
1.
To place or set so as to be parallel; to place so as to be parallel to, or to conform in direction with, something else. "The needle... doth parallel and place itself upon the true meridian."
2.
Fig.: To make to conform to something else in character, motive, aim, or the like. "His life is paralleled Even with the stroke and line of his great justice."
3.
To equal; to match; to correspond to.
4.
To produce or adduce as a parallel. (R.) "My young remembrance can not parallel A fellow to it."


Parallel  v. i.  (past & past part. paralleled; pres. part. paralleling)  To be parallel; to correspond; to be like. (Obs.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Parallel" Quotes from Famous Books



... Court's determination to the contrary earlier the same year.[762] This lesson, stated in the Court's own language thirty years later, was, "It is Congress, and not the Judicial Department, to which the Constitution has given the power to regulate commerce * * *."[763] A parallel to the Wheeling Bridge episode occurred ...
— The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation • Edward Corwin
... herself travelling in the direction from which she had come, parallel to the railway, down the longest street that she had ever seen. On her left were ten thousand small new houses, all alike. On her right were broken patches of similar houses, interspersed with fragments of green field and views of the arches ...
— Hilda Lessways • Arnold Bennett
... parallel passages about twelve feet in height, were formed by a triple row of shops. The centre row, giving back and front upon the Galleries, was filled with the fetid atmosphere of the place, and derived a dubious daylight through the invariably dirty windows of the roof; ...
— A Distinguished Provincial at Paris • Honore de Balzac
... Chaeronea, a Greek author of the first century A.D., wrote forty-six "parallel" Lives, of famous Greeks and Romans. Each famous Greek was contrasted with a famous Roman whose career was somewhat similar to his own. The Lives have been ever since among the most popular of ...
— An Introduction to Shakespeare • H. N. MacCracken
... from the margin nearest to an observer would be more sensible than those from the farther margin. Again, in slight earthquakes, such as the Cornwall earthquake of April 1, 1898,[83] the curves of equal sound intensity, while their axes are parallel to those of the isoseismal lines, are displaced laterally with respect to these curves, owing to the arrival of the strongest sound-vibrations from the upper margin ...
— A Study of Recent Earthquakes • Charles Davison


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