a. Geom. [f. L. TOR-US + -OIDAL.] Resembling or pertaining to a torus (TORUS 4).
1880. Sir W. Thomson in Philos. Mag., Ser. V. X. 101. This curve I call a toroidal helix, because it lies on a toroid, just as the common regular helix lies on a circular cylinder.
1889. Cent. Dict., s.v. Function, Toroidal function, a function serving to express the potential of an anchor-ring.
1895. Scotsman, 3 Dec., 4/6. Professor Tait made a communication on, ‘The application of net-work to a surface, in particular to a toroidal surface.’
