cosmos

noun

1. (countable)The universe regarded as a system with harmony and order.

   “This doctrine [the nebular hypothesis] supposes all the material universe to have been once in a fluid or nebular condition, and that, by the operation of universal gravitation and the thousand other laws of nature, the nebular matter has been mainly aggregated into masses, and the existing cosmoi been developed.”

   “It [the earth] was in the centre of the Kosmos; it remained stationary because of its equal distance from all parts of the outer revolving spheres; there was no cause determining it to move upward rather than downward or sideways, therefore it remained still. Its exhalations nourished the fire in the peripheral regions of the Kosmos.”

   “Can you conceive a process by which you, an organic being, are in the same way dissolved into the cosmos, and then by a subtle reversal of the conditions reassembled once more?"”

   “The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us—there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation, as if a distant memory, of falling from a height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.”

   “Along with this question of order was the question of whether there was one cosmos or many ‘cosmoi’. Plato and Aristotle firmly believed that there was one unique cosmos that was in some way structured for the best. The atomists, on the other hand, believed that there were many cosmoi, separate from one another, in which everything happened by chance.”

2. (broadly, countable, uncountable)The universe regarded as a system with harmony and order.

   “This simple cell is a cosmos in this respect: it represents the laws of the universe in changes of matter, and clearly exemplifies their workings in the oral cavity.”

3. (uncountable)Harmony, order.

   “He [Frederick I of Prussia] founded Universities, this poor King; University of Halle; Royal Academy of Berlin, [Gottfried Wilhelm] Leibniz presiding: he fought for Protestantism;—did what he could for the cause of Cosmos versus Chaos, after his fashion.”

4. (countable, uncountable)Any of various mostly Mexican herbs of the genus Cosmos having radiate heads of variously coloured flowers and pinnate leaves.

   “This beautiful plant was discovered in Mexico, before 1789; as seeds of it sent to Madrid produced plants, which blossomed in that year in the Royal Botanic Garden of Spain. It was first described and figured in 1797, by [Antonio José] Cavanilles, who called it Cosmos, from the Greek word Kosmos, beautiful; but this name was afterwards altered by [Carl Ludwig] Willdenow to Cosmea, as being more consistent with the rules of botanical nomenclature.”

   “COSMOS DIVERSIFOLIUS; var. atro-sanguineus. Various-leaved Cosmos; deep blood-flowered var. […] Seeds of this plant were received by Mr. Thompson, of Ipswich, from Mexico. It is doubtless a handsome species of Cosmos. The question is if it can be safely referred to any described species.”

   “People were attracted to him as bees are attracted to cosmos or dahlia stalks.”

   “[P]atients with positive skin reactions to short ragweed pollen usually had positive skin reactions to cosmos.”

   “The cosmos gives a perennial-like performance by reseeding, although the resulting flower may be different than the parent.”

5. (form-of, plural)plural of cosmo

name

1. A city in Minnesota.