DIMENSIONS: FORM / Guide
R E F E R E N C E S
Phase n. 1. any of the major aspects in which a thing of varying forms or conditoins manifests itself. 2. a stage in a process of change or development. 3. Astron. one of the recurring appearances or states of the moon or a planet in respect to the form, or the absence, of its illuminated disk. 4. Biol. an aspect of or stage in melosis or mitosis. 5. Zool. See color phase. 6. Chem. a mechanically separate, homogeneous part of a heterogeneous system: the solid, liquid, and gaseous phases of a system. 7. Physics. a particular stage or point of advancement in a cycle; the fractional part of the point of advancement in a cycle; the fractional part of the period through which the time has advanced, measured from some arbitrary origin. -v.t. 8. to schedule or order so as to be available when or as needed. 9. to put in phase; synchronize. 10. phase in, to put into use or incorporate gradually or by degrees: to phase in new machinery. 11. phase out, to ease out of service; withdraw gradually. [back formation from phases, pl. of NL phasis < GK phásis appearance = pha- (root of phaínein to show) + -sis -SIS] -Syn. 1. form, shape; facet, side.
[Urdang, Laurence, ed. Random House Dictionary of The English Language. New York: Random House, 1968.]
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