a. [f. L. axi-s + -AL 1.]
1. Forming an axis; of the nature of an axis.
1849. Murchison, Siluria, v. 100. The elevation of the axial line being less.
1857. Henfrey, Bot., § 35. 17. A true or axial root.
1872. Mivart, Anat., 25. The skeleton of the head and trunk, which is called the Axial skeleton.
1879. S. Highley, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 313/1. The axial ray.
1879. Carpenter, Ment. Phys., I. i. § 23. The Cerebrum and the Axial Cord on which it is super-imposed.
1880. Darwin, Movem. Pl., 223. Flower-stems … being axial in their nature.
2. Of, or belonging to, an axis.
1859. B. Powell, Order Nat., i. § 2. 45. Imagined three distinct motions … orbital, rotatory, axial.
1868. Lockyer, Elem. Astron., 237. With its axial direction at right angles to the direction of the slit.
1870. Proctor, Other Worlds, iii. 61. Axial inclination [of the planets].
3. Round, or about, an axis.
1862. H. Spencer, First Princ., II. xxii. § 170. The axial velocity.
1871. Tyndall, Fragm. Sc., II. xi. 239. The earth’s axial rotation.
