cone

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

• separate off or mark a road with traffic cones:part of the road has been coned off