equator

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: e=qua=tor

CIDE DICTIONARY

equator, n. [L. aequator one who equalizes: cf. F. équateur equator. See Equate.].

•  The imaginary great circle on the earth's surface, everywhere equally distant from the two poles, and dividing the earth's surface into two hemispheres.  [1913 Webster]
•  The great circle of the celestial sphere, coincident with the plane of the earth's equator; -- so called because when the sun is in it, the days and nights are of equal length; hence called also the equinoctial, and on maps, globes, etc., the equinoctial line.  [1913 Webster]

Equator of the sun or Equator of a planet (Astron.), the great circle whose plane passes through through the center of the body, and is perpendicular to its axis of revolution. -- Magnetic equator. See Aclinic.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

equator, n.
1 an imaginary line round the earth or other body, equidistant from the poles.
2 Astron. = celestial equator.

Etymology

ME f. OF equateur or med.L aequator (as EQUATION)

THESAURUS

equator

Antarctic Zone, Arctic Circle, Arctic Zone, Frigid Zones, Torrid Zone, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Variable Zones, anklet, aphelion, apogee, armlet, astronomical longitude, autumnal equinox, band, belt, bisector, boundary, bracelet, celestial equator, celestial longitude, celestial meridian, center, cincture, cingulum, circle, climate, clime, collar, collarband, colures, core, diameter, diaphragm, divider, earring, ecliptic, equinoctial, equinoctial circle, equinoctial colure, equinox, fascia, fillet, finger ring, furnace, galactic longitude, geocentric longitude, geodetic longitude, girdle, girt, girth, great circle, halfway mark, heart, heliocentric longitude, hell, hoop, horse latitudes, inferno, interior, kernel, latitude, line of demarcation, longitude, longitude in arc, mean, median, meridian, middle, midmost, midriff, midst, neckband, necklace, nose ring, nucleus, orbit, oven, parallel, partition, perigee, perihelion, period, prime meridian, quoit, ring, roaring forties, small circle, solstitial colure, steam bath, subtropics, the line, thick, thick of things, trajectory, tropic, tropics, vernal equinox, waist, waistline, wristband, wristlet, zodiac, zone

ROGET THESAURUS

equator

Middle

N middle, midst, mediety, mean, medium, middle term, center &c, mid-course, mezzo termine, juste milieu, halfway house, nave, navel, omphalos, nucleus, nucleolus, equidistance, bisection, half distance, equator, diaphragm, midriff, intermediate, middle, medial, mesial, mean, mid, median, average, middlemost, midmost, mediate, intermediate, equidistant, central, mediterranean, equatorial, homocentric, in the middle, midway, halfway, midships, amidships, in medias res.

World

N world, creation, nature, universe, earth, globe, wide world, cosmos, kosmos, terraqueous globe, sphere, macrocosm, megacosm, music of the spheres, heavens, sky, welkin, empyrean, starry cope, starry heaven, starry host, firmament, Midgard, supersensible regions, varuna, vault of heaven, canopy of heaven, celestial spaces, heavenly bodies, stars, asteroids, nebulae, galaxy, milky way, galactic circle, via lactea, ame no kawa, sun, orb of day, Apollo, Phoebus, photosphere, chromosphere, solar system, planet, planetoid, comet, satellite, moon, orb of night, Diana, silver-footed queen, aerolite, meteor, planetary ring, falling star, shooting star, meteorite, uranolite, constellation, zodiac, signs of the zodiac, Charles's wain, Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Great Bear, Southern Cross, Orion's belt, Cassiopea's chair, Pleiades, colures, equator, ecliptic, orbit, astronomy, uranography, uranology, cosmology, cosmography, cosmogony, eidouranion, orrery, geodesy, star gazing, star gazer, astronomer, observatory, planetarium, cosmic, cosmical, mundane, terrestrial, terrestrious, terraqueous, terrene, terreous, telluric, earthly, geotic, under the sun, sublunary, subastral, solar, heliacal, lunar, celestial, heavenly, sphery, starry, stellar, sidereal, sideral, astral, nebular, uranic, in all creation, on the face of the globe, here below, under the sun, die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltergesicht, earth is but the frozen echo of the silent voice o, green calm below, blue quietness above, hanging in a golden chain this pendant World, nothing in nature is unbeautiful, silently as a dream the fabric rose, some touch of nature's genial glow, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, through knowledge we behold the World's creation.