Definition of "cone" []

• Mathematics The surface generated by a straight line, the generator, passing through a fixed point, the vertex, and moving along a fixed curve, the directrix. (noun)
• Mathematics A right circular cone. (noun)
• The figure formed by a cone, bound or regarded as bound by its vertex and a plane section taken anywhere above or below the vertex. (noun)
• Something having the shape of this figure: "the cone of illuminated drops spilling beneath a street lamp” ( Anne Tyler). (noun)
• Botany A unisexual reproductive structure of gymnospermous plants such as conifers and cycads, typically consisting of a central axis around which there are scaly, overlapping, spirally arranged sporophylls that develop pollen-bearing sacs or naked ovules or seeds. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Ring cone system: A variation on the cone drive system is called the “ring cone” system - the motor has a metal cone mounted on its shaft, and the whole motor can be moved in and out, so that the cone drives a rubber ring connected to the wheelhead at variable speeds."
• "The top/narrow end of the cone is the inlet for any pump/device to ships/tanks etc. to capture oil until they fix the leak."
• "As a hurricane approaches land, they lay out a pretty wide swath of possibilities which they call the cone of uncertainty."