Word Study
ptolemaic
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Adjective ptolemaic has 2 senses
- ptolemaic(a = adj.pert) Array - of or relating to the astronomer Ptolemy; Array Derived form noun ptolemy1
- ptolemaic(s = adj.all) Array - of or relating to the geocentric Ptolemaic system; "in the Ptolemaic system of planetary motion the earth is fixed as the center of the universe with the sun and moon and planets revolving around it"
CIDE DICTIONARY
ptolemaic, a.
Of or pertaining to Ptolemy, the geographer and astronomer. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
ptolemaic, adj. hist.
1 of or relating to Ptolemy, a 2nd-c. Alexandrian astronomer, or his theories.
2 of or relating to the Ptolemies, Macedonian rulers of Egypt from the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) to the death of Cleopatra (30 BC).
1 of or relating to Ptolemy, a 2nd-c. Alexandrian astronomer, or his theories.
2 of or relating to the Ptolemies, Macedonian rulers of Egypt from the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) to the death of Cleopatra (30 BC).
Idiom
Ptolemaic system the theory that the earth is the stationary centre of the Universe (cf. COPERNICAN SYSTEM).
Etymology
L Ptolemaeus f. Gk Ptolemaios
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