资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Rontgen ray \R["o]ntgen ray\ (Physics)
Any of the rays produced when cathode rays strike upon
surface of a solid (as the wall of the vacuum tube).
R["o]ntgen rays are noted for their penetration of many
opaque substances, as wood and flesh, their action on
photographic plates, and their fluorescent effects. They were
called {X rays} by their discoverer, W. K. R["o]ntgen. They
also ionize gases, but cannot be reflected, or polarized, or
deflected by a magnetic field. They are regarded as
nonperiodic, transverse pulses in the ether. They are used in
examining opaque objects, as for locating fractures or
bullets in the human body.
Ray \Ray\, n. [OF. rai, F. rais, fr. L. radius a beam or ray,
staff, rod, spoke of a wheel. Cf. {Radius}.]
1. One of a number of lines or parts diverging from a common
point or center, like the radii of a circle; as, a star of
six rays.
2. (Bot.) A radiating part of the flower or plant; the
marginal florets of a compound flower, as an aster or a
sunflower; one of the pedicels of an umbel or other
circular flower cluster; radius. See {Radius}.
3. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) One of the radiating spines, or cartilages, supporting
the fins of fishes.
(b) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of
the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.
4. (Physics)
(a) A line of light or heat proceeding from a radiant or
reflecting point; a single element of light or heat
propagated continuously; as, a solar ray; a polarized
ray.
(b) One of the component elements of the total radiation
from a body; any definite or limited portion of the
spectrum; as, the red ray; the violet ray. See Illust.
under {Light}.
5. Sight; perception; vision; -- from an old theory of
vision, that sight was something which proceeded from the
eye to the object seen.
All eyes direct their rays On him, and crowds turn
coxcombs as they gaze. --Pope.
6. (Geom.) One of a system of diverging lines passing through
a point, and regarded as extending indefinitely in both
directions. See {Half-ray}.
{Bundle of rays}. (Geom.) See {Pencil of rays}, below.
{Extraordinary ray} (Opt.), that one or two parts of a ray
divided by double refraction which does not follow the
ordinary law of refraction.
{Ordinary ray} (Opt.) that one of the two parts of a ray
divided by double refraction which follows the usual or
ordinary law of refraction.
{Pencil of rays} (Geom.), a definite system of rays.
{Ray flower}, or {Ray floret} (Bot.), one of the marginal
flowers of the capitulum in such composite plants as the
aster, goldenrod, daisy, and sunflower. They have an
elongated, strap-shaped corolla, while the corollas of the
disk flowers are tubular and five-lobed.
{Ray point} (Geom.), the common point of a pencil of rays.
{R["o]ntgen ray}(Phys.), a kind of ray generated in a very
highly exhausted vacuum tube by the electrical discharge.
It is capable of passing through many bodies opaque to
light, and producing photographic and fluorescent effects
by which means pictures showing the internal structure of
opaque objects are made, called radiographs, or sciagraphs