tangent

A line, curve, or surface meeting another line, curve, or surface at a common point and sharing a common tangent line or tangent plane at that point.

The trigonometric function of an acute angle in a right triangle that is the ratio of the length of the side opposite the angle to the length of the side adjacent to the angle.

A sudden digression or change of course.

An upright pin in a keyboard instrument, especially in a clavichord, that rises to sound a string when a key is depressed and stops the string at a preset length to set the pitch.

Making contact at a single point or along a line; touching but not intersecting.

One of the keys or finger-levers of the hurdy-gurdy.

In railroading, a straight piece of track beginning and ending at a curve.

To bear or hold the relation of a tangent to.

Touching; in geometry, touching at a single point: as, a tangent line; curves tangent to each other.