Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Architecture A large convex molding, semicircular in cross section, located at the base of a classical column.
  • noun Anatomy A bulging or rounded projection or swelling.
  • noun The receptacle of a flower.
  • noun A thickened area in the middle of the membrane that connects the pits of tracheids in conifers and certain other gymnosperms.
  • noun Mathematics A toroid generated by a circle; a surface having the shape of a doughnut.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In geometry, a tore or anchor-ring. See tore, 2.
  • noun In architecture, a large convex molding of semicircular profile or a profile of kindred curve, used especially in bases, generally as the lowest member of the base, above the plinth when this is present. It differs from the astragal only in size, the astragal being much smaller. Sometimes called tore. See also cuts under base and column.
  • noun In botany, the receptacle of a flower; the more or less enlarged extremity of a stem or floral axis upon which the floral organs are situated. See receptacle, 2 , and cut under myrtle.
  • noun In anatomy, a smooth rounded ridge or elongated protuberance, as of a muscle; specifically, the tuber cinereum of the brain, or that part of the floor of the third ventricle which is prolonged downward to form a contracted passage from the cavity of the third ventricle into that of the pituitary body.
  • noun In zoology, some part or organ likened to a torus; specially, a ventral parapodium of some annelids.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Arch.) A large molding used in the bases of columns. Its profile is semicircular. See Illust. of Molding.
  • noun (Zoöl.) One of the ventral parapodia of tubicolous annelids. It usually has the form of an oblong thickening or elevation of the integument with rows of uncini or hooks along the center. See Illust. under Tubicolæ.
  • noun (Bot.) The receptacle, or part of the flower on which the carpels stand.
  • noun The surface described by the circumference of a circle revolving about a straight line in its own plane.
  • noun The solid inclosed by such a surface; -- sometimes called an anchor ring.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun topology A topological space which is a product of two circles.
  • noun mathematics The standard representation of such a space in 3-dimensional Euclidean space: a shape consisting of a ring with a circular cross-section: the shape of an inner tube or hollow doughnut.
  • noun topology, in combination, etc. The product of the specified number of circles.
  • noun architecture A molding which projects at the base of a column and above the plinth.
  • noun botany The end of the peduncle or flower stalk to which the floral parts (or in the Asteraceae, the florets of a flower head) are attached; see receptacle.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun commonly the lowest molding at the base of a column
  • noun a ring-shaped surface generated by rotating a circle around an axis that does not intersect the circle

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin, bulge, knot, torus.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin torus ("swelling, protuberance").

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Examples

  • The only moulding known is the clustered torus (_torus_ = a convex moulding of semicircular profile), which resembles a bundle of reeds tied together with cords or ribbons.

    A Text-Book of the History of Architecture Seventh Edition, revised 1890

  • As a practical matter, to make the ship Climb, or go null, Engineering pumps massive energies into the Climber's torus, which is a closed hyper drive.

    Passage at Arms Cook, Glen 1985

  • I say 'of its stalk,' -- that is to say, of the part of the stalk immediately sustaining the seed, commonly called the torus, and expanding into the calyx.

    Proserpina, Volume 1 Studies Of Wayside Flowers John Ruskin 1859

  • The shape of this region is not strictly a torus, since it's considerably flattened, especially at higher distances from the center, but it's referred to as a torus for simplicity.

    Science and Reason 2010

  • Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini: Very interesting, though his idea that the torus is the mother of all forms is not persuasive.

    ScreenTalk 2009

  • And provided above can connect to below, and left to right, we can wire up a list of lists of processes (i.e. a 2D grid in waiting) into a torus, that is a grid where the top edge connects to the bottom edge and the left edge to the right edge (as is often the case in old arcade games): wrappedGrid:: (Connectable above below, Connectable left right) = >

    Planet Haskell 2009

  • Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini: Very interesting, though his idea that the torus is the mother of all forms is not persuasive.

    ScreenTalk 2009

  • Recall that a torus is the shape of an inner tube, or the surface of a donut: it is a two-dimensional surface with one whole.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini: Very interesting, though his idea that the torus is the mother of all forms is not persuasive.

    ScreenTalk 2009

  • Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini: Very interesting, though his idea that the torus is the mother of all forms is not persuasive.

    ScreenTalk 2009

Comments

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  • A torus is the locus of points equidistant from a circle in three dimensions (for some reason I still remember this definition verbatim from distant high-school geometry).

    February 25, 2008

  • “Japanese officials subsequently said that the explosion had damaged a doughnut-shaped steel container of water, known as a torus, that surrounds the base of the reactor vessel inside the primary containment building.”

    The New York Times, Workers Strain to Retake Control After Blast and Fire at Japan Plant, by Keith Bradsher and Hiroko Tabuchi, March 15, 2011

    March 15, 2011

  • "2. In architecture, a large convex molding of semicircular profile or a profile of kindred curve, used especially in bases, generally as the lowest member of the base, above the plinth when this is present. It differs from the astragal only in size, the astragal being much smaller. Sometimes called tore. See also cuts under base and column."

    --Century Dictionary

    March 15, 2011

  • Weaving a torus with villarceau circles.

    September 11, 2016