Definition of "subtend" []

• Mathematics To be opposite to and delimit: The side of a triangle subtends the opposite angle. (verb-transitive)
• To underlie so as to enclose or surround: flowers subtended by leafy bracts. (verb-transitive)

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.

• "Truly, the obsessions which subtend that novel are without a doubt the strongest of all those which run through my work, including Empire of the Sun."
• "And that this was not correct because these attractions all lie in the same direction and subtend a total of twelve degrees of arc."
• "Anyhow, when Blondie told me the range of the targets, I figured the difference between the two and realized what the subtend value was for the dots at that range."