Definitions for helices

• Definition
• Anagrams (123)

helices hel·i·ces

Spelling: [hel-uh-seez]

IPA: /ˈhɛl əˌsiz/

Helices is a 7 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 12 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 13 points.

You can make 123 anagrams from letters in helices (ceehils).

Definitions for helices

noun

1. a plural of helix.
2. a spiral.
3. Geometry. the curve formed by a straight line drawn on a plane when that plane is wrapped around a cylindrical surface of any kind, especially a right circular cylinder, as the curve of a screw. Equation: x = a sinθ, y = a cosθ, z = b θ.
4. Architecture. a spiral ornament. (in a Corinthian capital) either of two scrolls issuing from a cauliculus. Compare Corinthian (def 2).
5. Anatomy. the curved fold forming most of the rim of the external ear.
6. Biochemistry. alpha helix.
7. a native or inhabitant of Corinth.
8. a man about town, especially one who lives luxuriously or, sometimes, dissolutely.
9. an amateur yachtsman.
10. Manège. a horse-show class in which each contestant must be a member of a recognized hunt and wear regulation hunt livery. Compare appointment (def 7).

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Corinth.
2. Architecture. noting or pertaining to one of the five classical orders invented in ancient Greece and similar in most respects to the Ionic but usually of slenderer proportions, and characterized by a deep capital with a round bell decorated with acanthus leaves and a square abacus with concave sides. The Corinthian capital has typically two distinct rows of acanthus leaves above which appear eight fluted sheaths, from each of which spring two scrolls (helices) of which one curls beneath a corner of the abacus as half of a volute and the other curls beneath the center of the abacus. Compare composite (def 3), Doric (def 3), Ionic (def 1), Tuscan (def 2).
3. ornate, as literary style.
4. luxurious or licentious.
5. pertaining to or designating a style of vase painting developed in Corinth, in the 7th and early 6th centuries b.c., characterized chiefly by human, animal, and ornamental motifs, painted boldly in a black figure style on a terra-cotta ground, often arranged in tiers around the vase.

Origin of helices

1555-65; Latin: a spiral, a kind of ivy Greek hélix anything twisted; compare helíssein to turn, twist, roll

Examples for helices

When the iron cylinder was replaced by an equal cylinder of copper, no effect beyond that of the helices alone was produced.

On trying to obtain the shock from these helices, I could not succeed at first.

Other electro-magnets could be made at pleasure by introducing a soft iron rod into any of the helices described (1053, &c.).

Of all Australian helices, this is perhaps the most curious.

With all this diversity the land shells or helices may always be distinguished from their salt or fresh-water relatives.

The capital thus shows its true profile, the helices upon front and back, and upon the subordinate sides rolls of their thickness.

I observed on the beach at this spot some small species of unios, and, at higher points on the shore, helices.

There were two helices all right, as an explanation of how Pheola could be right and then wrong.

The widow does not remove the ornaments worn in the helices of the ears, and in the alæ and septum of the nose.

The other four helices were similarly arranged, but their ends connected with a Leyden jar.