Fwd: "orrery, n." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

Orrery

94; an apparatus showing the relative positions and motions of bodies
in the solar system by balls moved by wheelwork; 209; of Engagement,
536

http://www.thomaspynchon.com/mason-dixon/alpha/o.html
http://www.ottosell.de/pynchon/md/md_10notes.htm

Orrery
or·re·ry NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. or·re·ries A mechanical model of
the solar system. ETYMOLOGY: After Charles Boyle, Fourth Earl of
Orrery (1676–1731), for whom one was made.

http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10:_94-104#Page_94

Cf. ...

a great wooden sun [...] in the very center," 239

"Foppl's own planetarium, a circular room with a great wooden sun" 239

http://www.thomaspynchon.com/v/alpha/c.html

The reality is in this head. Mine. I'm the projector at the
planetarium, all the closed little universe visible in the circle of
that stage is coming out of my mouth, eyes, and sometimes other
orifices also.

http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_quotes.html
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Pynchon#The_Crying_of_Lot_49_.281966.29

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:  <oedwotd at oup.com>
Date: Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 7:30 PM
Subject: "orrery, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
To: OEDWOTD-AMER-L at webber.uk.hub.oup.com

OED Online Word of the Day

The June 2012 quarterly update is now available. New words and
meanings from across the dictionary include dance-off, retcon,
subdomain, superbad, and supercool. Find out more...
________________________________

Your word for today is: orrery, n.

orrery, n.
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈɒrəri/,  U.S. /ˈɔrəri/
Inflections:  Plural  orreries, (rare) orrerys.
Etymology: < the name of Charles Boyle, fourth Earl of Orrery
(1676–1731), for whom a copy of the machine invented by George Graham
(1673–1751), English mechanic, was made c1700 by John Rowley
(c1668–1728), London instrument-maker (see quot. 1713), and named in
the earl's honour.
  A mechanical model, usually clockwork, devised to represent the
motions of the earth and moon (and sometimes also the planets) around
the sun.
1713  R. Steele Englishman No. 11, Mr. John Rowley..calls his Machine
the Orrery, in Gratitude to the Nobleman of that Title.
1720  W. Stukeley in  W. C. Lukis Family Mem. W. Stukeley (1882) I. 50
A machine..in the nature of what we since call Orrerys.
1742  E. Young Complaint ix. 787 [It] dwarfs the whole, And makes an
universe an Orrery.
1833  J. F. W. Herschel Astronomy viii. 287 Those very childish toys
called orreries.
1854  J. R. Lowell Jrnl. Italy in Pr. Wks. (1890) I. 191 When that is
once done, events will move with the quiet of an orrery.
1974  R. Pearsall Collecting & Restoring Sci. Instruments v. 103 The
original orrery was a furnishing piece rather than a scientific
instrument, with intricate brasswork and a wealth of lacquered
designs.
1992  A. Kurzweil Case of Curiosities xxxv. 227 The celestial globe
rotated with the precision of an orrery.

________________________________

Visit the OED's home page at http://www.oed.com