from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Tropical \Trop"ic*al\, a. [Cf. L. tropicus of turning, Gr. ?.
See {Tropic}, n.]
1. Of or pertaining to the tropics; characteristic of, or
incident to, the tropics; being within the tropics; as,
tropical climate; tropical latitudes; tropical heat;
tropical diseases.
[1913 Webster]
2. [From {Trope}.] Rhetorically changed from its exact
original sense; being of the nature of a trope;
figurative; metaphorical. --Jer. Taylor.
[1913 Webster]
The foundation of all parables is some analogy or
similitude between the tropical or allusive part of
the parable and the thing intended by it. --South.
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{Tropic month}. See {Lunar month}, under {Month}.
{Tropic year}, the solar year; the period occupied by the sun
in passing from one tropic or one equinox to the same
again, having a mean length of 365 days, 5 hours, 48
minutes, 46.0 seconds, which is 20 minutes, 23.3 seconds
shorter than the sidereal year, on account of the
precession of the equinoxes.
[1913 Webster]