Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Solar \So"lar\, a. [L. solaris, fr. sol the sun; akin to As.
   s[=o]l, Icel. s[=o]l, Goth. sauil, Lith. saule, W. haul,.
   sul, Skr. svar, perhaps to E. sun:F. solaire. Cf. {Parasol}.
   {Sun}.]
   1. Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from the sun; as,
      the solar system; solar light; solar rays; solar
      influence. See {Solar system}, below.

   2. (Astrol.) Born under the predominant influence of the sun.
      [Obs.]

            And proud beside, as solar people are. --Dryden.

   3. Measured by the progress or revolution of the sun in the
      ecliptic; as, the solar year.

   4. Produced by the action of the sun, or peculiarly affected
      by its influence.

            They denominate some herbs solar, and some lunar.
                                                  --Bacon.

   {Solar cycle}. See under {Cycle}.

   {Solar day}. See {Day}, 2.

   {Solar engine}, an engine in which the energy of solar heat
      is used to produce motion, as in evaporating water for a
      steam engine, or expanding air for an air engine.

   {Solar flowers} (Bot.), flowers which open and shut daily at
      certain hours.

   {Solar lamp}, an argand lamp.

   {Solar microscope}, a microscope consisting essentially,
      first, of a mirror for reflecting a beam of sunlight
      through the tube, which sometimes is fixed in a window
      shutter; secondly, of a condenser, or large lens, for
      converging the beam upon the object; and, thirdly, of a
      small lens, or magnifier, for throwing an enlarged image
      of the object at its focus upon a screen in a dark room or
      in a darkened box.



   {Cycle of indiction}, a period of 15 years, employed in Roman
      and ecclesiastical chronology, not founded on any
      astronomical period, but having reference to certain
      judicial acts which took place at stated epochs under the
      Greek emperors.

   {Cycle of the moon}, or {Metonic cycle}, a period of 19
      years, after the lapse of which the new and full moon
      returns to the same day of the year; -- so called from
      Meton, who first proposed it.

   {Cycle of the sun}, {Solar cycle}, a period of 28 years, at
      the end of which time the days of the month return to the
      same days of the week. The dominical or Sunday letter
      follows the same order; hence the solar cycle is also
      called the {cycle of the Sunday letter}. In the Gregorian
      calendar the solar cycle is in general interrupted at the
      end of the century.