meaning of diurnal
1. Relating to the daytime; belonging to the period of daylight, distinguished from the night; -- opposed to nocturnal; as, diurnal heat; diurnal hours.
2. Daily; recurring every day; performed in a day; going through its changes in a day; constituting the measure of a day; as, a diurnal fever; a diurnal task; diurnal aberration, or diurnal parallax; the diurnal revolution of the earth.
3. Opening during the day, and closing at night; -- said of flowers or leaves.
4. Active by day; -- applied especially to the eagles and hawks among raptorial birds, and to butterflies (Diurna) among insects.
5. A daybook; a journal.
6. A small volume containing the daily service for the "little hours," viz. , prime, tierce, sext, nones, vespers, and compline.
7. A diurnal bird or insect.
8. having a daily cycle or occurring every day; "diurnal rhythms"; "diurnal rotation of the heavens"; "the diurnal slumber of
">bats"
Related Words
diurnal | diurnal parallax | diurnal variation | diurnalist | diurnally | diurnalness |
