Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Lateral

Lat′er·al (·al), a. [L. lateralis, fr. latus, lateris, side: cf. F. latéral.] 1. Of or pertaining to the sides; as, the lateral walls of a house; the lateral branches of a tree.

2. (Anat.) Lying at, or extending toward, the side; away from the mesial plane; external; — opposed to mesial.

3. Directed to the side; as, a lateral view of a thing.

Lateral cleavage (Crystallog.), cleavage parallel to the lateral planes. — Lateral equation (Math.), an equation of the first degree. [Obs.] — Lateral line (Anat.), in fishes, a line of sensory organs along either side of the body, often marked by a distinct line of color. — Lateral pressure or stress (Mech.), a pressure or stress at right angles to the length, as of a beam or bridge; — distinguished from longitudinal pressure or stress. — Lateral strength (Mech.), strength which resists a tendency to fracture arising from lateral pressure. — Lateral system (Bridge Building), the system of horizontal braces (as between two vertical trusses) by which lateral stiffness is secured.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.