| tropic | (n) either of two parallels of latitude about 23.5 degrees to the north and south of the equator representing the points farthest north and south at which the sun can shine directly overhead and constituting the boundaries of the Torrid Zone or tropics | | tropical | (adj) relating to or situated in or characteristic of the tropics (the region on either side of the equator), Syn. tropic, Example: tropical islands; tropical fruit | | tropical | (adj) of or relating to the tropics, or either tropic, Example: tropical year | | tropical | (adj) characterized by or of the nature of a trope or tropes; changed from its literal sense | | tropical | (adj) of weather or climate; hot and humid as in the tropics, Syn. tropic, Example: tropical weather | | tropically | (adv) in a tropical manner, Example: it was tropically hot in the greenhouse | | tropical medicine | (n) the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases that are found most often in tropical regions | | tropical pitcher plant | (n) any of several tropical carnivorous shrubs or woody herbs of the genus Nepenthes | | tropical prawn | (n) edible tropical and warm-water prawn | | tropical rain forest | (n) a rain forest in a tropical area, Syn. selva |
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| Tropic | a. [ Atropine + -ic. ] (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, an acid obtained from atropine and certain other alkaloids, as a white crystalline substance slightly soluble in water. [ 1913 Webster ] | | Tropic | n. [ F. tropique, L. tropicus of or belonging to a turn, i. e., of the sun, Gr. &unr_; of the solstice, &unr_; (sc. &unr_;) the tropic or solstice, fr. &unr_; to turn. See Trope. ] 1. (Astron.) One of the two small circles of the celestial sphere, situated on each side of the equator, at a distance of 23° 28′, and parallel to it, which the sun just reaches at its greatest declination north or south, and from which it turns again toward the equator, the northern circle being called the Tropic of Cancer, and the southern the Tropic of Capricorn, from the names of the two signs at which they touch the ecliptic. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. (Geog.) (a) One of the two parallels of terrestrial latitude corresponding to the celestial tropics, and called by the same names. (b) pl. The region lying between these parallels of latitude, or near them on either side. [ 1913 Webster ] The brilliant flowers of the tropics bloom from the windows of the greenhouse and the saloon. Bancroft. [ 1913 Webster ] | | Tropic | a. Of or pertaining to the tropics; tropical. [ 1913 Webster ]
Tropic bird (Zool.), any one of three species of oceanic belonging to the genus Phaethon, found chiefly in tropical seas. They are mostly white, and have two central tail feathers very long and slender. The yellow-billed tropic bird. Phaethon flavirostris (called also boatswain), is found on the Atlantic coast of America, and is common at the Bermudas, where it breeds. [ 1913 Webster ]
| | Tropical | a. [ Cf. L. tropicus of turning, Gr. &unr_;. See Tropic, n. ] 1. Of or pertaining to the tropics; characteristic of, or incident to, the tropics; being within the tropics; as, tropical climate; tropical latitudes; tropical heat; tropical diseases. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. [ From Trope. ] Rhetorically changed from its exact original sense; being of the nature of a trope; figurative; metaphorical. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ] The foundation of all parables is some analogy or similitude between the tropical or allusive part of the parable and the thing intended by it. South. [ 1913 Webster ]
Tropic month. See Lunar month, under Month. --
Tropic year, the solar year; the period occupied by the sun in passing from one tropic or one equinox to the same again, having a mean length of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46.0 seconds, which is 20 minutes, 23.3 seconds shorter than the sidereal year, on account of the precession of the equinoxes. [ 1913 Webster ]
| | Tropically | adv. In a tropical manner; figuratively; metaphorically. [ 1913 Webster ] |
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