Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for TAN'GENT
TANGTAN-GI-BIL'I-TY, or TAN'GI-BLE-NESS
TAN'GENT, n. [Fr. tangente; L. tangens, touching. See Touch.]
In geometry, a right line which touches a curve, but which when produced, does not cut it. In trigonometry, the tangent of an arc, is a right line touching the arc at one extremity, and terminated by a secant passing through the other extremity.
Return to page 10 of the letter “T”.