cone
Pronunciation: /kəʊn/
noun
- 1a solid or hollow object which tapers from a circular or roughly circular base to a point: stalls selling paper cones full of fresh berries a cone of acrylic yarn
- Mathematics a surface or solid figure generated by the straight lines which pass from a circle or other closed curve to a single point (the vertex) not in the same plane as the curve.
- a conical mountain, especially one of volcanic origin: the smooth cone of Vesuvius
- (also traffic cone) a plastic cone-shaped object that is used to separate off or close sections of a road.
- a coned-shaped wafer container in which ice cream is served.
- (also pyrometric cone) a ceramic pyramid that melts at a known temperature and is used to indicate the temperature of a kiln.
- short for cone shell.
- 2the dry fruit of a conifer, typically tapering to a rounded end and formed of a tight array of overlapping scales on a central axis which separate to release the seeds: a cedar cone
- a flower resembling a pine cone, especially that of the hop plant.
- 3 Anatomy one of two types of light-sensitive cell in the retina of the eye, responding mainly to bright light and responsible for sharpness of vision and colour perception. Compare with rod (sense 5).
verb
Origin:
late Middle English (denoting an apex or vertex): from French cône, via Latin from Greek kōnos