Result from Foreign Dictionaries (5 entries found)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Coma \Co"ma\ (k[=o]"m[.a]), n. [NL., fr. Gr. kw^ma lethargy, fr. koima^n to put to sleep. See {Cemetery}.] A state of profound insensibility from which it is difficult or impossible to rouse a person. See {Carus}. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Coma \Co"ma\, n. [L., hair, fr. Gr. ko`mh.] 1. (Astron.) The envelope of a comet; a nebulous covering, which surrounds the nucleus or body of a comet. [1913 Webster] 2. (Bot.) A tuft or bunch, -- as the assemblage of branches forming the head of a tree; or a cluster of bracts when empty and terminating the inflorescence of a plant; or a tuft of long hairs on certain seeds. [1913 Webster] {Coma Berenices}[L.] (Astron.), a small constellation north of Virgo; -- called also {Berenice's Hair}. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Envelope \En"vel*ope\ (?; 277), Envelop \En*vel"op\ (?; 277), n. [F. enveloppe.] 1. That which envelops, wraps up, encases, or surrounds; a wrapper; an inclosing cover; esp., the cover or wrapper of a document, as of a letter. [1913 Webster] 2. (Astron.) The nebulous covering of the head or nucleus of a comet; -- called also {coma}. [1913 Webster] 3. (Fort.) A work of earth, in the form of a single parapet or of a small rampart. It is sometimes raised in the ditch and sometimes beyond it. --Wilhelm. [1913 Webster] 4. (Geom.) A curve or surface which is tangent to each member of a system of curves or surfaces, the form and position of the members of the system being allowed to vary according to some continuous law. Thus, any curve is the envelope of its tangents. 4. A set of limits for the performance capabilities of some type of machine, originally used to refer to aircraft; -- it is often described graphically as a two-dimensional graph of a function showing the maximum of one performance variable as a function of another. Now it is also used metaphorically to refer to capabilities of any system in general, including human organizations, esp. in the phrase push the envelope. It is used to refer to the maximum performance available at the current state of the technology, and therefore refers to a class of machines in general, not a specific machine. [PJC] {push the envelope} to increase the capability of some type of machine or system; -- usually by technological development. [1913 Webster] From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: coma n 1: a state of deep and often prolonged unconsciousness; usually the result of disease or injury [syn: {coma}, {comatoseness}] 2: (botany) a usually terminal tuft of bracts (as in the pineapple) or tuft of hairs (especially on certain seeds) 3: (astronomy) the luminous cloud of particles surrounding the frozen nucleus of a comet; forms as the comet approaches the sun and is warmed From V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2013) [vera]: COMA Cache Only Memory Architecture (SMP)