See Also: Dotterel(medicine)
sea dotterel(medicine)
dotterel(dictionary)
Huygens(dictionary)
Huygens' ocular(medicine)
Huygens' principle(medicine)
Huygens, Christian(medicine)
Huygens, Christiaan(encyclopedia)

Huygens, Christiaan (sh) and dotterel (iou)


Huygens, Christiaan (sh)




or Christian Huyghens

born April 14, 1629, The Hague
died July 8, 1695, The Hague

Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist.

He was the first to use a pendulum to regulate a clock (1656). He invented a method of grinding and polishing telescope lenses, and he used his telescopes to discover the true shape of Saturn's rings (1659). He developed explanations of reflection and refraction based on the principle of secondary wave fronts, now called Huygens' principle. He developed the wave theory of light (1678) and also contributed to the science of dynamics. His work on rotating bodies led to solutions of problems involving oscillation of a pendulum and uniform circular motion. He was also the first to determine acceleration due to gravity.


Christiaan Huygens, portrait by C. Netscher, 1671; in the Collection Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

Courtesy of the Collection Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague


dotterel (iou)



dotterel noun & adjective. . LME.
[from DOTE verb1 + -REL.]
A. noun.
A small, exceptionally tame plover, Eudromias morinellus, found on open ground in northern Europe and northern Asia and migrating to the Mediterranean. Also (usu. with specifying word), any of several Other plovers of Australia, New Zealand, and S. America of the genera Eudromias, Charadrius, and Peltohyas. LME.
A silly or deranged person; a dotard. Now dial. LME.
A doddered tree; a pollard. Now dial. E17.
b. attrib. or as adjective.
dotterel tree = sense A.3 above. Now dial. M16.
Foolish, doting. Now rare or obsolete. L16.