See Also: Polar(medicine)
polar(dictionary)
polar(dictionary)
polar plates(medicine)
polar presentation(medicine)
polar ring(medicine)
polar solvents(medicine)
polar star(medicine)
polar zone(medicine)
zinco-polar(medicine)

polar (iou)



polar adjective & noun. M16.
[French polaire or mod. Latin polaris (in medieval Latin = heavenly), formed as POLE noun2: see -AR1.]
A. adjective.
Astronomy & Geography. Of or pertaining to the poles of the celestial sphere or of the earth or other celestial object; situated near or connected with either pole. M16.
E. K. Kane Well known to the Polar traveller. A. Burgess He has three kinds of clothingtemperate, tropical and polar. L. Gordon These strange lands of more than polar darkness.
Magnetic; of or pertaining to a magnetic pole or poles. L17.
J. Tyndall I examined the stones..and found them strongly polar.
fig.
a. Analogous to a pole of the earth, or to the polestar; pertaining to or of the nature of a central or guiding principle. L18.
Carlyle A king over men; whose movements were polar.
b. Directly opposite in character, action, or tendency. M19.
E. A. Nida The differences between literal and free translating are..a polar distinction with many grades. H. Read Order and Disorder might be taken as the polar opposites.
Physics. Acting or arranged in two opposite directions. E19.
Geometry. Relating or referred to a pole (cf. POLE noun2 3); of the nature of a polar. E19.
Pertaining to electrical poles; having positive and negative electricity; esp. in Chemistry, involving or pertaining to the separation of positive and negative electric charge between parts of a molecule etc.; having an electric dipole moment; (esp. of a liquid) consisting of molecules with an electric dipole moment; (esp. of a solid) ionic, electrovalent. M19.
Biology. Of or pertaining to the poles of a cell, organ, etc. L19.
Special collocations: polar axis Astronomy the axis of rotation of the earth or other celestial object, passing through the poles; an axis of an equatorial telescope that is parallel to the earth's axis, around which the telescope may be turned to keep track of a star throughout the night. polar bear a very large white bear of Arctic regions, Thalarctos maritimus. polar body Cytology each of the small cells which bud off from an oocyte at the two meiotic divisions and do not develop into ova. polar cap a region of ice or other frozen matter surrounding a pole of a planet. polar circle either of the Arctic and Antarctic circles. polar coordinate Geometry either of a pair of coordinates describing the position of a point in a plane, the first being the length of the straight line connecting the point to the origin, and the second the angle made by this line with a fixed line (usu. in pl.). polar curve = POLAR noun 2. polar diagram: in which the length of the radius joining a fixed point to any point of a curve represents the magnitude of something (e.g. the sensitivity of an aerial) measured in the direction of the radius. polar distance the angular distance of any point on a sphere from the nearer pole; the complement of declination or latitude. polar flattening the extent to which the polar diameter is shorter than the mean equatorial diameter. polar hare N. Amer. the Arctic hare, Lepus arcticus. polar lights the aurora borealis or australis. polar orbit an orbit that passes over polar regions, spec. one whose plane contains the polar axis. polar plant the compass-plant Silphium laciniatum. polar star the polestar. polar vector: see VECTOR noun 2a. polar wandering the slow erratic movement of the earth's poles relative to the continents throughout geological time, due largely to continental drift.
b. noun.
ellipt. A polar circle. rare. Only in L17.
Geometry. A curve related in a particular way to a given curve and a fixed point; in a conic section, the straight line joining the points at which tangents from the fixed point touch the curve. M19.