Thesaurus: precession

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Definitions

1. n. The act of going before, or forward.
2. n. the motion of a spinning body (as a top) in which it wobbles so that the axis of rotation sweeps out a cone
3. n. the act of preceding in time or order or rank (as in a ceremony)
4. The act of going before, or forward. Lunisolar precession. (Astron.) See under Lunisolar. -- Planetary precession, that part of the precession of the equinoxes which depends on the action of the planets alone. -- Precession of the equinoxes (Astron.), the slow backward motion of the equinoctial points along the ecliptic, at the rate of 50.2" annually, caused by the action of the sun, moon, and planets, upon the protuberant matter about the earth's equator, in connection with its diurnal rotation; -- so called because either equinox, owing to its westerly motion, comes to the meridian sooner each day than the point it would have occupied without the motion of precession, and thus precedes that point continually with reference to the time of transit and motion.
5. The act of going before, or forward. Lunisolar precession.(Astron.) See under Lunisolar.-- Planetary precession, that part of the precession of theequinoxes which depends on the action of the planets alone.-- Precession of the equinoxes (Astron.), the slow backward motionof the equinoctial points along the ecliptic, at the rate of 50.2"annually, caused by the action of the sun, moon, and planets, uponthe protuberant matter about the earth's equator, in connection withits diurnal rotation; -- so called because either equinox, owing toits westerly motion, comes to the meridian sooner each day than thepoint it would have occupied without the motion of precession, andthus precedes that point continually with reference to the time oftransit and motion.
6. n:100 n. the motion of a spinning body (as a top) in which it wobbles so that the axis of rotation sweeps out a cone n. the act of preceding in time or order or rank (as in a ceremony)