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Trajectory   Listen
noun
Trajectory  n.  (pl. trajectories)  The curve which a body describes in space, as a planet or comet in its orbit, or stone thrown upward obliquely in the air.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Trajectory" Quotes from Famous Books



... hypothesis, a movement between two stops; if there are intermediate stops, it is no longer a single movement. At bottom, the illusion arises from this, that the movement, once effected, has laid along its course a motionless trajectory on which we can count as many immobilities as we will. From this we conclude that the movement, whilst being effected, lays at each instant beneath it a position with which it coincides. We do not see that the trajectory is created in one stroke, although a certain ...
— Creative Evolution • Henri Bergson

... the line which it traverses for a yard of its course, is necessitated by what he knows of the laws of nature to conclude that it came from a certain spot, whence it was impelled by a certain force, and that it has followed a certain trajectory. In like manner, the student of physical geology, who fully believes in the uniformity of the general condition of the earth through geologic time, may feel compelled by what he knows of causation, and ...
— Lectures and Essays • T.H. Huxley

... the belief that battle with present arms will be, in the same space of time, more deadly than with ancient ones. The trajectory of the projectile reaching further, the rapidity of firing being four times as great, more men will be put out of commission in less time. While the arm becomes more deadly, man does not change, his morale ...
— Battle Studies • Colonel Charles-Jean-Jacques-Joseph Ardant du Picq

... gruffly under the mist-blanket that overlaid the plain, dappling it with alternately flashing and fading blotches of light till it glowed fantastically like a lamp-shade of Carrara marble; star-shells, fired with a low trajectory, popped up and dove out of sight again, throwing a fluttering green radiance over the white pall ...
— World's War Events, Volume III • Various

... laws lay contained in embryo within an equation, the mysterious nut which must be artistically cracked to extract the rich kernel, the theorem! Take this or that term, place the sign before it and forthwith you have the ellipse, the trajectory of the planets, with its two friendly foci, transmitting pairs of vectors whose sum is constant; substitute the—sign and you have the hyperbola with the antagonistic foci, the desperate curve that dives into space with infinite tentacles, approaching ...
— The Life of the Fly - With Which are Interspersed Some Chapters of Autobiography • J. Henri Fabre

... drawn a pin which released the machinery, had just time to run back and defend your wicket as the iron rod revolved and discharged the ball with a jerk. The rod itself worked on a slide, and could be shortened or extended to vary the trajectory, and the exercise it entailed in one way and another had given Miss Belcher's ...
— Poison Island • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (Q)

... is, for this small particle, completed. Always, however, is exerted the gravitational pull of matter, and the energy that drove through, instead of pursuing a right line, tends to bend in a parabolic curve, like the trajectory of a cannon ball. In the completion of the process some portion of redeemed matter "gets by," so to speak, but other portions do not; they return to their source of origin and are reabsorbed in matter, becoming subject to the operation of ...
— Towards the Great Peace • Ralph Adams Cram

... round and head back into the narrow channel free from sand bars, which he could discern by the rougher water, when bullets began to come from the dory. They were aimed at the wheel and whether sent low or not, the trajectory, even from a high-powered gun, would pull them down to the danger level. One struck the mast directly in front of him. One hit the deck and glanced singing. The music from another flattened bullet was ...
— Radio Boys Loyalty - Bill Brown Listens In • Wayne Whipple

... soldiers who have used it have the utmost confidence in their weapon. Up to 500 yards there is no difficulty about judging the range, as it shoots quite straight, or, technically speaking, has a flat trajectory. This is of the greatest value. Of the bullet it may be said, that its stopping power is all that could be desired. The Dum-Dum bullet, though not explosive, is expansive. The original Lee-Metford bullet was a pellet of lead covered by a nickel case with an opening ...
— The Story of the Malakand Field Force • Sir Winston S. Churchill

... orb of day; and up to this time the projectile had been floating in this deep shadow. Whatever had been its speed (and it could not have been insignificant), its period of occultation continued. That was evident, but perhaps that would not have been the case in a supposedly rigidly parabolical trajectory— a new problem which tormented Barbicane's brain, imprisoned as he was in a circle of unknowns which ...
— Jules Verne's Classic Books • Jules Verne

... connection between the two is assured by means of a nut, c. The axle of the support, h, is held in the upright of the carriage, k, which receives from a piece, l, placed on the driving-shaft, n, a slow forward motion toward the tool, and a rapid motion backward. The trajectory curve or groove of special form of the piece, l, in which moves the conducting roller, o, of the carriage, is not closed everywhere on the two sides, in that the guides that limit it extend only on the part strictly necessary. This arrangement permits of the roller being made to leave the trajectory ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 365, December 30, 1882 • Various

... By Horace Kephart. This book is devided into two parts, Part I dealing with the Rifle and Part II with the Shotgun. Mr. Kephart goes at some length into the questions of range, trajectory and killing power of the different types of rifles and charges and also has chapters on rifle mechanisms, sights, barrels, and so forth. In the part dealing with shotguns he takes up the question of range, the effectiveness of various loads, suitability of the different ...
— Apple Growing • M. C. Burritt

... world; and gravity badgers the bullet's trajectory; and a magnetic "H" disturbs the needle; and "impossible" roots turn up in the equation; and the finger of God ...
— The Lord of the Sea • M. P. Shiel

... The trajectory of the two torpedoes is regulated by a cylindrical bellows, F, which gives entrance to the sea water. The springs shown in the figure balance the hydraulic pressure. The tension of these springs is regulated by the rod, H, according to the indications of ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889 • Various

... himself he lost more men, amongst whom was a splendid fellow, his second in command, named Berwkoff, who was greatly loved by us all. A Magyar soldier seeing Kalmakoff with his Ataman banner borne by his side, took a point-blank shot at his head, but he forgot the high trajectory of the old Russian rifle, and the bullet merely grazed the top of the Cossack leader's head and sent his papaha into the mud. His banner-bearer could not see his leader's cap so left, and jumped off his horse to rescue it. Raising the cap from the ground, he found ...
— With the "Die-Hards" in Siberia • John Ward

... that he was exposing himself a little, Peter raised his rifle to his shoulder and fired a snap shot, just as simultaneously Archie started at the brushing by his cheek of a spear which came through the window with a low trajectory and stuck with a soft thud into something at the ...
— Trapped by Malays - A Tale of Bayonet and Kris • George Manville Fenn

... affixed to the musket superseded the pike; the rifle outranged the musket; the breech-loader and the magazine attachment progressively increased the rate of fire; smokeless powder rendered a firing line almost invisible; the flat trajectory of the small-arms bullet increased the danger-zone in an advance; the increased power, mobility, and accuracy of the field gun[4] rendered certain {22} formations obsolete in the attack; the general ...
— Lectures on Land Warfare; A tactical Manual for the Use of Infantry Officers • Anonymous

... which leaped out of the velvet night. Already man and the works of man lay far behind. If there had been any tentative pursuit, the Legionaries knew nothing of it. Outdistancing pursuit as an eagle distances sparrows, the liner gloried in her swift trajectory. ...
— The Flying Legion • George Allan England

... is used by all the Spanish soldiers, with the exception of the Guardia Civile, is a most excellent weapon for those who like clean, gentlemanly warfare, in which the object is to wound or to kill outright, and not to "shock" the enemy nor to tear his flesh in pieces. The weapon has hardly any trajectory up to one thousand yards, but, in spite of its precision, it is as useless in the hands of a guerrilla or the average Spanish soldier as a bow and arrow would be. The fact that when the Spaniards say "within gun fire of the forts" they mean ...
— Cuba in War Time • Richard Harding Davis

... a dozen mules. Over the dusty plains of the tableland and through the rugged scenery of hill-passes these somewhat crazy vehicles perform their journeys, starting often before sunrise and arriving after sunset in order to accomplish their toilsome trajectory. Jolting over the ruts and arroyos of the scarcely-tended "roads"—if by courtesy they may be termed such—and baked by the sun blazing upon the carriage-hood, the traveller would often prefer to exchange his uncomfortable seat for ...
— Mexico • Charles Reginald Enock

... street in front of the shop as a ball ground, and had merely seized the opportunity to vindicate his reputation as a desperado and put one over on the Dutchman. The fact that he had on a red sweater was the barest coincidence. Having observed the brick to be accurately pursuing its proper trajectory he had ducked back round the corner again and continued upon his way rejoicing. He had not even noticed Tony Mathusek, who, having accidentally found himself in the midst of the melee, had started to beat a retreat the instant of the crash, and had run plump ...
— By Advice of Counsel • Arthur Train

... at him point blank." This usually is intended to mean directly, or at short range. But point blank means the point at which the line of sight is crossed downward by the trajectory—the curve ...
— Write It Right - A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults • Ambrose Bierce

... birds moreover differs in the form of the trajectory in space; in the inclination of the plane in which the wings beat; in the role of each of the two alternating (and in an inverse sense) movements that the wings execute; as also in the facility with which the air is decomposed during these different movements. As the wings ...
— Our Common Insects - A Popular Account of the Insects of Our Fields, Forests, - Gardens and Houses • Alpheus Spring Packard

... which disturbs the pure balance of reason more than does religious bigotry. No creed can be so limiting as that awful adjuration that the cobbler must not go beyond his last. So the largest and wildest shots of our world are but in one direction and with a defined trajectory: the gunner cannot go beyond his shot, and his shot so often falls short; the astronomer cannot go beyond his telescope and his telescope goes such a little way. All these are like men who have stood on the high peak of a mountain and ...
— What's Wrong With The World • G.K. Chesterton

... from the roof of the gallery; but Harry would not admit of such a simple explanation. According to him, the stone had not fallen, it had been thrown; for otherwise, without rebounding, it could never have described a trajectory as it did. ...
— The Underground City • Jules Verne

... games, especially la balle au camp. I used to envy the graceful, easy way he threw the ball—so quick and straight it seemed to have no curve at all in its trajectory: and how it bounded off the boy it nearly always ...
— The Martian • George Du Maurier

... part of the Civil War the United States purchased a great quantity of these arms, and before their worthlessness became apparent a considerable number was issued. The calibre of most of them was .75; the rifling was very deep; the recoil and trajectory were abnormal, and accuracy of shooting was conspicuous by absence."—Sawyer, "Our ...
— A Catalogue of Early Pennsylvania and Other Firearms and Edged Weapons at "Restless Oaks" • Henry W. Shoemaker

... a modern battle is constantly extending. Both the big guns and the howitzers were the deciding factors in most of the military decisions reached during the war. Artillery is divided first between the big guns having a comparatively flat trajectory and the howitzers whose trajectory is curved. Then there is a further division into these four classes: Field artillery, Heavy ...
— History of the World War - An Authentic Narrative of the World's Greatest War • Francis A. March and Richard J. Beamish

... have adopted the opinion that the human race is in a state of necessary progression. The reciprocal action between circumstances and human nature, from which social phenomena result, must produce either a cycle or a trajectory. While Vico maintained the conception of periodic cycles, his successors have universally adopted the idea of a trajectory or progress, and are endeavouring to discover its law. [Footnote: Philosophical writers in England in the middle ...
— The Idea of Progress - An Inquiry Into Its Origin And Growth • J. B. Bury

... man, Along the rifle barrel ran; The "crotch" or "globe" was all the same, If you could only see the game. Or the "bulls-eye," the missile flew Into its centre straight and true, In the old days when practiced eye Was light, shade and trajectory. Does your keen eye obey your will, Is your hand quite as steady still As when you knocked the turkey's o'er, At twenty rods in days of yore? My blessing day and night upon The memory of the time that's gone. And Sergeant Major Ritchie, there He stands before my vision, where In youth ...
— Recollections of Bytown and Its Old Inhabitants • William Pittman Lett

... wild triumph came a flash of horror. One can't see everything. His eye following the ball's trajectory.... ...
— Mr. Britling Sees It Through • H. G. Wells

... said to 'be' at any point in its path? It passes over, or, in other words, it could 'be' there. It would 'be' there if it stopped there, but, if it stopped there, it is no longer the same movement with which we are dealing. It is always at one bound that a trajectory is traversed when, on its course, there is no stoppage. The bound may last a few seconds, or it may last for weeks, months, or years, but it is unique and cannot be decomposed. Only, when once the passage has been made, as the path is in space, and space is infinitely ...
— Bergson and His Philosophy • J. Alexander Gunn

... grazing the fire of a machine gun the more effective it is. This causes the principal employment of the machine gun to be at distances where the trajectory is flattest, that is under 800 or 1,000 yards. However, the effort to obtain a grazing fire must not exclude long distance fire. This latter will always be justified when directed upon important objectives, or necessary points of passage. ...
— Military Instructors Manual • James P. Cole and Oliver Schoonmaker

... off and almost retched as his stomach turned a flip-flop to end all flip-flops. The VX-3 had reached the peak of its trajectory at over 1000 miles altitude and now turned down, lazily at first. He gulped oxygen from the emergency tube at ...
— Shipwreck in the Sky • Eando Binder

... duty and two off. But for the thousand-odd colonists, the men and women who were to be the spearhead of migration to a new and friendlier planet, it had none. They slept, and played, worked at such tasks as they could invent, and slept again, while the huge ship followed her plotted trajectory. ...
— Genesis • H. Beam Piper

... ball for a few moments, rolling it over in his hands. An instant later, he unbent. Then he let drive. The ball went slowly toward the plate, with flat trajectory. ...
— The High School Pitcher - Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond • H. Irving Hancock

... lightning flash. He sang through the air, spinning over and over with inconceivable rapidity, and the great crowd of rebels held their breath in silence as they watched. He passed high above the city wall, a tiny mannikin in the distance now, and then the trajectory of his flight began to lower. The spike of a new-built pyramid lay in the path of his terrific flight, and he struck it with a thud whose sound floated out to us afterwards, and then he toppled down out of our sight, leaving a red stain on the whiteness ...
— The Lost Continent • C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne

... of the arrow is always done with precision, as the accuracy of its flight, the uniformity of its rotation, the length of its trajectory, and the consequent penetrative power are known to depend upon proper care ...
— The Manbos of Mindano - Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir • John M. Garvan

... we should do," Clements suggested, "is to go down to the trajectory section and find out the latest word on ...
— If at First You Don't... • John Brudy

... a hand through the loop he had made and gripped it tight, then he went as close to the hotel fence as he could without raising the trajectory too high and began to whirl the contraption around his head. Faster and faster he whirled it until it began to whine, then with all the momentum of ...
— Smugglers' Reef • John Blaine



Words linked to "Trajectory" :   gravity-assist, flight, ballistic trajectory



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