torus

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from Latin torus (“a round, swelling, elevation, protuberance”).

1. The standard representation of such a space in 3-dimensional Euclidean space: a surface or solid formed by rotating a closed curve, especially a circle, about a line which lies in the same plane but does not intersect it (e.g. like a ring doughnut).

   “A 4-variable Karnaugh map can be thought of, topologically, as being a torus.”

2. The standard representation of such a space in 3-dimensional Euclidean space: a surface or solid formed by rotating a closed curve, especially a circle, about a line which lies in the same plane but does not intersect it (e.g. like a ring doughnut).
3. The standard representation of such a space in 3-dimensional Euclidean space: a surface or solid formed by rotating a closed curve, especially a circle, about a line which lies in the same plane but does not intersect it (e.g. like a ring doughnut).
4. A large convex molding, typically semicircular in cross section, which commonly projects at the base of a column and above the plinth.
5. A rounded ridge of bone or muscle, especially one on the occipital bone.

   “While there is a hereditary component to tori, this does not explain all cases. Tori tend to appear more frequently during middle age of life; the torus palatinus is more commonly observed in females, but this is not the case with the torus mandibularis. Certain ethnic groups are more prone to one torus or the other.”

6. The end of the peduncle or flower stalk to which the floral parts (or in the Asteraceae, the florets of a flower head) are attached.
7. The thickening of a membrane closing a wood-cell pit (as of gymnosperm tracheids) having the secondary cell wall arched over the pit cavity.