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cone

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The definition of a cone is anything with a circular surface on one end and one point at the other end where all sides or lines meet, or the reproductive, seed-bearing growth of a pine tree.

(noun)

An example of a cone is a funnel.
An example of a cone is the waffle pastry in which ice cream is served.
An example of a cone is the brown scaly growth which is attached to wreathes.

See cone in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

1. a flat-based, single-pointed solid formed by a rotating straight line that traces out a closed-curved base from a fixed vertex point that is not in the same plane as the base; esp., one () formed by tracing a circle from a vertex perpendicular to the center of the base (also formed by rotating a right triangle 360° with either leg as the axis, or by rotating an isosceles triangle 360° with the altitude as the axis)
2. the surface of such a solid
3. a similar unbounded surface extending outward in both directions from a point: it is formed by rotating in an elliptical or circular pattern a straight line that always passes through this point
any object or mass shaped like a cone; specif.,
1. a crisp shell of pastry for holding a scoop of ice cream
2. the peak of a volcano
3. any of various machine parts
Bot.
1. a reproductive structure of certain nonflowering plants, consisting of an elongated central axis upon which are borne overlapping scales, bracts, sporophylls, etc., usually in a spiral fashion, and in which are produced pollen, spores, or ovules; strobilus: cones are found in cycads, conifers, club mosses, horsetails, etc.
2. any similar structure, as the catkin of hops
Zool.
1. any of the flask-shaped cells in the retina of most vertebrates, sensitive to bright light and color
2. cone shell
the diaphragm (sense ) of a speaker, usually cone-shaped

Origin: ME < L conus < Gr kōnos, a wedge, peak, cone < IE base kō(n)-, to sharpen > hone, L cos

transitive verb coned, coning

to shape like a cone or a conical segment

See cone in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

Mathematics
a. The surface generated by a straight line, the generator, passing through a fixed point, the vertex, and moving along a fixed curve, the directrix.
b. A right circular cone.
a. The figure formed by a cone, bound or regarded as bound by its vertex and a plane section taken anywhere above or below the vertex.
b. Something having the shape of this figure: “the cone of illuminated drops spilling beneath a street lamp” (Anne Tyler).
Botany
a. A unisexual reproductive structure of gymnospermous plants such as conifers and cycads, typically consisting of a central axis around which there are scaly, overlapping, spirally arranged sporophylls that develop pollen-bearing sacs or naked ovules or seeds.
b. A similar structure that produces spores on club mosses, horsetails, and spike mosses.
c. Any reproductive structure resembling a cone, such as a cluster of hop or alder fruits.
Physiology One of the photoreceptors in the retina of the eye that is responsible for daylight and color vision. These photoreceptors are most densely concentrated in the fovea centralis, creating the area of greatest visual acuity.
Any of various gastropod mollusks of the family Conidae of tropical and subtropical seas, having a conical, often vividly marked shell and the ability to inflict a poisonous, sometimes fatal sting.