parabola

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from New Latin parabola, from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ), from παραβάλλω (parabállō, “to set side by side”), from παρά (pará, “beside”) + βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”). Doublet of parable, parole, and palaver.

1. The conic section formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to a tangent plane to the cone; the locus of points equidistant from a fixed point (the focus) and line (the directrix).

   “And it saves his life. As he's buzzing down a curving, narrow canal, a narrow green parabola appears hanging across the water in front of him, suddenly rising out of the water and snapping into a perfectly straight line at neck level.”

2. Synonym of parable.