PARABOLA
parabola
(noun) a plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the curve
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
parabola (plural parabolas or parabolae or parabolæ)
(geometry) The conic section formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to a tangent plane to the cone; the locus of points equidistant from a fixed point (the focus) and line (the directrix).
(rhetoric) The explicit drawing of a parallel between two essentially dissimilar things, especially with a moral or didactic purpose. A parable.
Synonym: parable
Source: Wiktionary
Pa*rab"o*la, n.; pl. Parabolas. Etym: [NL., fr. Gr. Parable, and cf.
Parabole.] (Geom.)
(a) A kind of curve; one of the conic sections formed by the
intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane parallel to one of
its sides. It is a curve, any point of which is equally distant from
a fixed point, called the focus, and a fixed straight line, called
the directrix. See Focus.
(b) One of a group of curves defined by the equation y = axn where n
is a positive whole number or a positive fraction. For the cubical
parabola n = 3; for the semicubical parabola n = Cubical, and
Semicubical. The parabolas have infinite branches, but no rectilineal
asymptotes.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition