axis

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈæksɪs/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈæksəs/

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• Hyphenation: ax‧is

Borrowed from Latin axis (“axle, axis”).

axis (plural axes)

1. (geometry) An imaginary line around which an object spins (an axis of rotation) or is symmetrically arranged (an axis of symmetry).
   • 2012 March 1, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 112-3:

     A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.

   The Earth rotates once a day on its axis

2. (mathematics) A fixed one-dimensional figure, such as a line or arc, with an origin and orientation and such that its points are in one-to-one correspondence with a set of numbers; an axis forms part of the basis of a space or is used to position and locate data in a graph (a coordinate axis)
3. (anatomy) The second cervical vertebra of the spine

   Synonym: epistropheus

4. (psychiatry) A form of classification and descriptions of mental disorders or disabilities used in manuals such as the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)
5. (botany) The main stem or central part about which organs or plant parts such as branches are arranged

• (cervical vertebra): atlas

From Latin, name of an Indian animal mentioned by the Roman senator Pliny.

axis (plural axises)

1. Axis axis, a deer native to Asia.

   Synonyms: chital, cheetal, chital deer, spotted deer, axis deer

• Chital on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Axis axis on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs- (“axis”); see also Lithuanian ašis (“axle”), Sanskrit अक्ष (akṣa, “axle, axis, balance beam”), Ancient Greek ἄξων (áxōn, “axle”), Old High German ahsa (“axle”), and Old English eax, English axle, Icelandic eax, öxull, öksull.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈak.sis/, [ˈak.sɪs]

axis m (genitive axis); third declension

1. An axletree, wagon, car, chariot.
2. The North Pole.
3. The heavens or a region or clime of these.
4. A board, plank.

Third declension i-stem.

• axis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• axis in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• axis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• axis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the pole: vertex caeli, axis caeli, cardo caeli
    
• axis in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• axis in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• Langenscheidt Pocket Latin Dictionary