{ Gnom"ic (?), Gnom"ic*al (?), } a. [Gr. &?;, fr. &?;: cf. F. gnomique.
See Gnome maxim.] Sententious; uttering or containing maxims, or
striking detached thoughts; aphoristic.
A city long famous as the seat of elegiac and gnomic poetry.
G. R. Lewes.
Gnomic Poets, Greek poets, as Theognis and Solon, of the sixth century
B. C., whose writings consist of short sententious precepts and
reflections.
Gnom"ic*al, a. [See Gnomon.] Gnomonical. Boyle.
Gnom"ic*al*ly, adv. In a gnomic, didactic, or sententious manner.
{ Gno`mo*log"ic (?), Gno`mo*log"ic*al (?), } a. [Gr. &?;.] Pertaining
to, of the nature of, or resembling, a gnomology.
Gno*mol"o*gy (?), n. [Gr. &?;; &?; judgment, maxim + &?; discourse: cf.
F. gnomologie.] A collection of, or a treatise on, maxims, grave
sentences, or reflections. [Obs.] Milton.
Gno"mon (?), n. [L. gnomon, Gr. &?; one that knows, the index of a
sundial. See Gnome.]
1. (Dialing) The style or pin, which by its shadow, shows the hour of
the day. It is usually set parallel to the earth's axis.
2. (Astron.) A style or column erected perpendicularly to the horizon,
formerly used in astronomocal observations. Its principal use was to
find the altitude of the sun by measuring the length of its shadow.
3. (Geom.) The space included between the boundary lines of two similar
parallelograms, the one within the other, with an angle in common; as,
the gnomon bcdefg of the parallelograms ac and af. The parallelogram bf
is the complement of the parallelogram df.