spicae

Variant of spica

noun

  1. pl. spicae Bot. a spike, as of a flower
  2. Med. a kind of bandage wrapped back and forth with spiral overlapping around parts of a joint
  3. a binary star, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo: magnitude, 1.0, but it varies regularly by a magnitude of 0.1 as the fainter star eclipses its brighter companion

Origin: L, ear of grain, orig., a point: see spike

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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