spline
Pronunciation: /ˈsplaɪ̯n/
The English word “spline” has 9 meanings listed here.
noun
- A long, thin piece of metal or wood.
- A strip of wood or other material inserted into grooves in each of two pieces of wood to provide additional surface for gluing.
- A flexible strip of metal or other material, that may be bent into a curve and used in a similar manner to a ruler to draw smooth curves between points.
- Any of a number of smooth curves used to join points.
- A ridge or tooth on a drive shaft that meshes with a corresponding groove in a mating piece and transfers torque to it, maintaining the angular correspondence between the pieces; either the ridge or the groove, as part of a set of both (splines); the whole set of ridges and grooves.
- A rectangular piece that fits grooves like key seats in a hub and a shaft, so that while the one may slide endwise on the other, both must revolve together.
verb
Etymology
Mid-1700s East Anglian dialect. Origin uncertain but perhaps from Old Danish splind or North Frisian splinj and ultimately related to the root of splinter.
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.