solar

solar¹

/soh"leuhr/, adj.

1. of or pertaining to the sun: solar phenomena.

2. determined by the sun: solar hour.

3. proceeding from the sun, as light or heat.

4. utilizing, operated by, or depending on solar energy: a solar building; a solar stove.

5. indicating time by means of or with reference to the sun: a solar chronometer.

6. manufacturing or providing solar power: the solar industry.

7. Astrol. subject to the influence of the sun.

n.

8. Informal. See solar energy.

[1400-50; late ME < L solaris, equiv. to sol SUN + -aris -AR¹]

solar²

/sol"euhr, soh"leuhr/, n.

a private or upper chamber in a medieval English house.

Also, sollar, soller.

[bef. 900; ME solar, soler < AF soler, OF solier < L solarium SOLARIUM; cf. OE solor, soler, MD solre loft < L]

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(as used in expressions)

neutrino problem solar

solar cell

solar cycle

solar energy

solar flare

solar heating

solar nebula

solar prominence

solar system

solar wind

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▪ architecture

also spelled  sollar  

      in architecture, private room located on the floor above the great hall in a late medieval English manor house. The solar served as a kind of parlour to which the family of the owner of the manor house or castle could retire from the bustling communal living of the hall below. In fact, by the late 14th century the solar was more often called the “retiring room.” Up a flight of stairs from the dais, or platform, end of the hall, the solar usually had an adjacent chapel.

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