sinus

Definition

A pouch or cavity in a bone or other tissue, especially one in the bones of the face or skull connecting with the nasal cavities (the paranasal sinus).

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sinus (“a bent surface, curve, hollow”). Doublet of sine.

Example Sentences

• "So, in the helicopteron, as the helix is at the same time a sustaining plane, it should be likened to a surface moving horizontally, and in which, consequenty, the resistance to motion will be to the lifting power as the sinus is to the cosinus of the angle formed by such plane with the horizon."
• "The variations are described in terms of cycles of sinuses and cosinuses."
• "Basically, the rotation of the matrix of the factor loadings L represents its post-multiplication, i.e. L* = LO by the rotation matrix O, which itself resembles one of the matrices included in the classical rotational Lie groups SO(m) (containing the specific m–fold combination of sinuses and cosinuses."