Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OR'DI-NATE, n.

In geometry and, conic sections, a line drawn from any point of the circumference of an ellipsis or other conic section, perpendicularly across the axis to the other side. Encyc. An ordinate is a line drawn perpendicular to the axis of a curve and terminating the curvilinear space. Bp. Berkeley. Todd. Ordinates of a curve, right lines parallel to one another, terminated by the curve, and bisected by a right line called the diameter. Cyc.