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Dip of the horizon

Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Dip \Dip\, n.
   1. The action of dipping or plunging for a moment into a
      liquid. ``The dip of oars in unison.'' --Glover.

   2. Inclination downward; direction below a horizontal line;
      slope; pitch.

   3. A liquid, as a sauce or gravy, served at table with a
      ladle or spoon. [Local, U.S.] --Bartlett.

   4. A dipped candle. [Colloq.] --Marryat.

   {Dip of the horizon} (Astron.), the angular depression of the
      seen or visible horizon below the true or natural horizon;
      the angle at the eye of an observer between a horizontal
      line and a tangent drawn from the eye to the surface of
      the ocean.

   {Dip of the needle}, or {Magnetic dip}, the angle formed, in
      a vertical plane, by a freely suspended magnetic needle,
      or the line of magnetic force, with a horizontal line; --
      called also {inclination}.

   {Dip of a stratum} (Geol.), its greatest angle of inclination
      to the horizon, or that of a line perpendicular to its
      direction or strike; -- called also the {pitch}.

Horizon \Ho*ri"zon\, n. [F., fr. L. horizon, fr. Gr. ? (sc. ?)
   the bounding line, horizon, fr. ? to bound, fr. ? boundary,
   limit.]
   1. The circle which bounds that part of the earth's surface
      visible to a spectator from a given point; the apparent
      junction of the earth and sky.

            And when the morning sun shall raise his car Above
            the border of this horizon.           --Shak.

            All the horizon round Invested with bright rays.
                                                  --Milton.

   2. (Astron.)
      (a) A plane passing through the eye of the spectator and
          at right angles to the vertical at a given place; a
          plane tangent to the earth's surface at that place;
          called distinctively the sensible horizon.
      (b) A plane parallel to the sensible horizon of a place,
          and passing through the earth's center; -- called also
          {rational or celestial horizon}.
      (c) (Naut.) The unbroken line separating sky and water, as
          seen by an eye at a given elevation, no land being
          visible.

   3. (Geol.) The epoch or time during which a deposit was made.

            The strata all over the earth, which were formed at
            the same time, are said to belong to the same
            geological horizon.                   --Le Conte.

   4. (Painting) The chief horizontal line in a picture of any
      sort, which determines in the picture the height of the
      eye of the spectator; in an extended landscape, the
      representation of the natural horizon corresponds with
      this line.

   {Apparent horizon}. See under {Apparent}.

   {Artificial horizon}, a level mirror, as the surface of
      mercury in a shallow vessel, or a plane reflector adjusted
      to the true level artificially; -- used chiefly with the
      sextant for observing the double altitude of a celestial
      body.

   {Celestial horizon}. (Astron.) See def. 2, above.

   {Dip of the horizon} (Astron.), the vertical angle between
      the sensible horizon and a line to the visible horizon,
      the latter always being below the former.

   {Rational horizon}, and {Sensible horizon}. (Astron.) See
      def. 2, above.

   {Visible horizon}. See definitions 1 and 2, above.
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