Emily Dickinson Lexicon

E-CLIP'TIC, n. [Gr. εκλειπτικος, from εκλειπω, to fail or be defective; L. eclipticus, linea ecliptica, the ecliptic line, or line in which eclipses are suffered.]

1. A great circle of the sphere supposed to be drawn through the middle of the zodiac, making an angle with the equinoctial of about 23° 30', which is the sun's greatest declination. The ecliptic is the apparent path of the sun, but as in reality it is the earth which moves, the ecliptic is the path or way among the fixed stars which the earth in its orbit appears to describe, to an eye placed in the sun. Harris. Encyc.
2. In geography, a great circle on the terrestrial globe, answering to and falling within the plane of the celestial ecliptic. Encyc.