torus

Meaning

Noun

• a surface or solid formed by rotating a closed curve, especially a circle, about a line which lies in the same plane but does not intersect it (e.g. like a ring doughnut).
• A large convex molding, typically semicircular in cross section, which commonly projects at the base of a column and above the plinth.
• A rounded ridge of bone or muscle, especially one on the occipital bone.
• The end of the peduncle or flower stalk to which the floral parts (or in the Asteraceae, the florets of a flower head) are attached.
• The thickening of a membrane closing a wood-cell pit (as of gymnosperm tracheids) having the secondary cell wall arched over the pit cavity.

Origin

• Borrowed from Latin torus ("a round, swelling, elevation, protuberance").