n. [ Aëro- + sphere: cf. F. aérosphère. ] The atmosphere. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. the lower layer of the earth's crust, below the lithosphere. It is estimated as from fifty to several hundred miles thick. It is less rigid than the lithosphere, but still rigid enough to transmit some transverse seismic waves. [ RHUD ] [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; vapor (akin to Skr. ātman breath, soul, G. athem breath) + &unr_; sphere: cf. F. atmosphère. See Sphere. ] 1. (Physics) (a) The whole mass of aëriform fluid surrounding the earth; -- applied also to the gaseous envelope of any celestial orb, or other body; as, the atmosphere of Mars. (b) Any gaseous envelope or medium. [ 1913 Webster ]

An atmosphere of cold oxygen. Miller. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A supposed medium around various bodies; as, electrical atmosphere, a medium formerly supposed to surround electrical bodies. Franklin. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The pressure or weight of the air at the sea level, on a unit of surface, or about 14.7 lbs. to the sq. inch. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hydrogen was liquefied under a pressure of 650 atmospheres. Lubbock. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Any surrounding or pervading influence or condition. [ 1913 Webster ]

The chillest of social atmospheres. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The portion of air in any locality, or affected by a special physical or sanitary condition; as, the atmosphere of the room; a moist or noxious atmosphere. [ 1913 Webster ]

. 1. (Zool.) (a) The central mass of the aster in mitotic cell division; centrosphere. (b) Less often, the mass of archoplasm left by the aster in the resting cell. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. (Bot.) A small body situated on or near the nucleus in the cells of some of the lower plants, consisting of two centrospheres containing centrosomes. It exercises an important function in mitosis. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Gr. bary`s heavy + sphere. ] (Geol.) The heavy interior portion of the earth, within the lithosphere. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. a spherical deep diving apparatus (lowered by a cable) for underwater exploration; it is constructed with a strong steel shell to withstand high pressures at the ocean bottom. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. [ Gr. blasto`s sprout + E. sphere. ] (Biol.) The hollow globe or sphere formed by the arrangement of the blastomeres on the periphery of an impregnated ovum. [ See Illust. of Invagination. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; centre + sphere. ] 1. (Geol.) The nucleus or central part of the earth, forming most of its mass; -- disting. from lithosphere, hydrosphere, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. (Biol.) The central mass of an aster from which the rays extend and within which the centrosome lies when present; the attraction sphere. The name has been used both as excluding and including the centrosome, and also to designate a modified mass of protoplasm about a centrosome whether aster rays are developed or not. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A chromosphere. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; color + E. sphere. ] (Astron.) An atmosphere of rare matter, composed principally of incandescent hydrogen gas, surrounding the sun and enveloping the photosphere. Portions of the chromosphere are here and there thrown up into enormous tongues of flame. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; a grain, seed + E. sphere. ] (Biol.) A small, rounded, marine organism, capable of braking up into coccoliths. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. ko`smos the world + E. sphere. ] An apparatus for showing the position of the earth, at any given time, with respect to the fixed stars. It consist of a hollow glass globe, on which are depicted the stars and constellations, and within which is a terrestrial globe. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. en- + sphere. Cf. Insphere. ] 1. To place in a sphere; to envelop. [ 1913 Webster ]

His ample shoulders in a cloud ensphered. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To form into a sphere. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. hemisphaerium, Gr. &unr_;; &unr_; half = &unr_; sphere: cf. F. hémisphère. See Hemi-, and Sphere. ] 1. A half sphere; one half of a sphere or globe, when divided by a plane passing through its center. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Half of the terrestrial globe, or a projection of the same in a map or picture. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The people who inhabit a hemisphere. [ 1913 Webster ]

He died . . . mourned by a hemisphere. J. P. Peters. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cerebral hemispheres. (Anat.) See Brain. --
Magdeburg hemispheres (Physics), two hemispherical cups forming, when placed together, a cavity from which the air can be withdrawn by an air pump; -- used to illustrate the pressure of the air. So called because invented by Otto von Guericke at Magdeburg.

n. [ Pref. hydro-, 1 + sphere. ] 1. (Meteor.) The aqueous vapor of the entire atmosphere. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. (Phys. Geog.) The aqueous envelope of the earth, including the ocean, all lakes, streams, and underground waters, and the aqueous vapor in the atmosphere. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A mathematical object existing in more than three dimensions, analogous to the sphere in that all points on the surface are equidistant from the central point; a generalization of a sphere in more than three dimensions. [ PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Insphered p. pr. & vb. n. Insphering. ] [ Cf. Ensphere. ] To place in, or as in, an orb a sphere. Cf. Ensphere. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bright aërial spirits live insphered
In regions mild of calm and serene air. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the outer region of the earth's atmosphere, beyond which is the exosphere; it contains a high concentration of free electrons and ions, and extends from about 50 miles to about 250 miles above the earth's surface, but the height shows daily and seasonal variation, and the composition of the particles in the ionosphere is also affected by events such as solar flares. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. [ Leuco- + sphere. ] (Astron.) The inner corona. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Litho- + sphere. ] (Phys. Geog.) (a) The solid earth as distinguished from its fluid envelopes, the hydrosphere and atmosphere. (b) The outer part of the solid earth, the portion undergoing change through the gradual transfer of material by volcanic eruption, the circulation of underground water, and the process of erosion and deposition. It is, therefore, regarded as a third mobile envelope comparable with the hydrosphere and atmosphere. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. the magnetic field of a planet; the volume around the planet in which charged particles are subject more to the planet's magnetic field than to the solar magnetic field. [ WordNet 1.6 ]

n. [ Gr. w, 'o`n an egg + E. sphere. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Bot.) An unfertilized, rounded mass of protoplasm, produced in an oogonium. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ After being fertilized by the access of antherozoids it becomes covered with a cell wall and develops into an oospore, which may grow into a new plant like the parent. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) An analogous mass of protoplasm in the ovule of a flowering plant; an embryonic vesicle. Goodale. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Photo- + sphere. ] A sphere of light; esp., the luminous envelope of the sun. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Plani- + sphere: cf. F. planisphère. See Plain, and Sphere. ] The representation of the circles of the sphere upon a plane; especially, a representation of the celestial sphere upon a plane with adjustable circles, or other appendages, for showing the position of the heavens, the time of rising and setting of stars, etc., for any given date or hour. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pseudo- + sphere. ] (Geom.) The surface of constant negative curvature generated by the revolution of a tractrix. This surface corresponds in non-Euclidian space to the sphere in ordinary space. An important property of the surface is that any figure drawn upon it can be displaced in any way without tearing it or altering in size any of its elements. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. "ra`bdos a rod + E. sphere.] A minute sphere composed of rhabdoliths. [1913 Webster]

n. [ Spermo- + sphere. ] (Physiol.) A mass or ball of cells formed by the repeated division of a male germinal cell (spermospore), each constituent cell (spermoblast) of which is converted into a spermatozoid; a spermatogemma. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. spere, OF. espere, F. sphère, L. sphaera, . Gr. &unr_;&unr_;&unr_; a sphere, a ball. ] 1. (Geom.) A body or space contained under a single surface, which in every part is equally distant from a point within called its center. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, any globe or globular body, especially a celestial one, as the sun, a planet, or the earth. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of celestial bodies, first the sun,
A mighty sphere, he framed. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Astron.) (a) The apparent surface of the heavens, which is assumed to be spherical and everywhere equally distant, in which the heavenly bodies appear to have their places, and on which the various astronomical circles, as of right ascension and declination, the equator, ecliptic, etc., are conceived to be drawn; an ideal geometrical sphere, with the astronomical and geographical circles in their proper positions on it. (b) In ancient astronomy, one of the concentric and eccentric revolving spherical transparent shells in which the stars, sun, planets, and moon were supposed to be set, and by which they were carried, in such a manner as to produce their apparent motions. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Logic) The extension of a general conception, or the totality of the individuals or species to which it may be applied. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Circuit or range of action, knowledge, or influence; compass; province; employment; place of existence. [ 1913 Webster ]

To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in 't. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and inclosing her in a sphere by herself. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

Each in his hidden sphere of joy or woe
Our hermit spirits dwell. Keble. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Rank; order of society; social positions. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. An orbit, as of a star; a socket. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Armillary sphere,
Crystalline sphere,
Oblique sphere, . See under Armillary, Crystalline, . --
Doctrine of the sphere, applications of the principles of spherical trigonometry to the properties and relations of the circles of the sphere, and the problems connected with them, in astronomy and geography, as to the latitudes and longitudes, distance and bearing, of places on the earth, and the right ascension and declination, altitude and azimuth, rising and setting, etc., of the heavenly bodies; spherical geometry. --
Music of the spheres. See under Music. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Globe; orb; circle. See Globe. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Sphered p. pr. & vb. n. Sphering. ] 1. To place in a sphere, or among the spheres; to insphere. [ 1913 Webster ]

The glorious planet Sol
In noble eminence enthroned and sphered
Amidst the other. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To form into roundness; to make spherical, or spheral; to perfect. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; a wheel + sphere. ] (Zool.) A young larval form of many annelids, mollusks, and bryozoans, in which a circle of cilia is developed around the anterior end. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A sphere which is smaller than, and in its movements subject to, another; a satellite. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An inferior sphere, or field of action. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + sphere. ] To remove, as a planet, from its sphere or orb. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]