cylinder

Plural: cylinders

Noun

• a solid bounded by a cylindrical surface and two parallel planes (the bases)
• a surface generated by rotating a parallel line around a fixed line
• a chamber within which piston moves
• a cylindrical container for oxygen or compressed air
• A surface created by projecting a closed two-dimensional curve along an axis intersecting the plane of the curve.
• A solid figure bounded by a cylinder and two parallel planes intersecting the cylinder.
• Any object in the form of a circular cylinder.
• A cylindrical cavity or chamber in a mechanism, such as the counterpart to a piston found in a piston-driven engine.
• The space in which a piston travels inside a reciprocating engine or pump.
• A container in the form of a cylinder with rounded ends for storing pressurized gas; a gas cylinder.
• An early form of phonograph recording, made on a wax cylinder.
• The part of a revolver that contains chambers for the cartridges.
• The corresponding tracks on a vertical arrangement of disks in a disk drive considered as a unit of data capacity.

Verb

Verb Forms: cylindered, cylindering, cylinders

• To provide or enclose something within a cylinder.
• To calender; to press (paper, etc.) between rollers to make it glossy.

Examples

• He tried to ’CYLINDER’ his letters into a vertical stack, hoping for a surprising play.
• When the two-dimensional curve is a circle, the cylinder is called a circular cylinder. When the axis is perpendicular to the plane of the curve, the cylinder is called a right cylinder. In non-mathematical usage, both right and circular are usually implied.

Synonyms

piston chamber

Anagrams of cylinder