spline

plural splines

1. A long, thin piece of metal or wood.First known use the mid 18th c
2. artsA strip of wood or other material inserted into grooves in each of two pieces of wood to provide additional surface for gluing.
3. A flexible strip of metal or other material, that may be bent into a curve and used in a similar manner to a ruler to draw smooth curves between points.
4. computingAny of a number of smooth curves used to join points.

   These conditions provide a framework which encompasses some notable approximation kernels including splines, so-called cardinal functions, and many radial basis functions such as the Gaussians and general multiquadrics.

   2016, Keaton Hamm, Jeff Ledford, “Regular Families of Kernels for Nonlinear Approximation”, in arXiv

   1 more example

   However, it should be possible to give more sophisticated spherical spline curves based on the de Castaljau method that are computed using multiple slerps between pairs of points and which work well for arbitrary knot positions (indeed, knot insertion methods for spline curves should suffice for this, cf Farin [1993])

   2001 April, Samuel R. Buss, Jay P Fillmore, “Spherical averages and applications to spherical splines and interpolation”, in ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), volume 20, number 2

5. engineeringA ridge or tooth on a drive shaft that meshes with a corresponding groove in a mating piece and transfers torque to it, maintaining the angular correspondence between the pieces; either the ridge or the groove, as part of a set of both (splines); the whole set of ridges and grooves.
6. A rectangular piece that fits grooves like key seats in a hub and a shaft, so that while the one may slide endwise on the other, both must revolve together.

   Near-synonym: feather

   Synonyms: feather

present singular third person splines · participle present splining · participle past splined · past splined

1. computingTo smooth (a curve or surface) by means of a spline.
2. engineeringTo fit with a spline.

   Machining a straight spline with a lathe. Sometimes the task of splining a shaft comes up during a repair. Instead of sending out the job, use this setup to mill the splines on a lathe.

   1965 August, Popular Science, volume 187, number 2, page 133

3. engineeringTo fasten to or together with a spline.

   These packs can be holding or driving devices, depending on what they are splined to.

   2004, Jack Erjavec, TechOne automatic transmissions, page 311

   2 more examples

   Engineers did not think two crankshafts could be synchronized. Wood, by splining the shafts in each gear box, proved it could be done.

   1935 September, Popular Mechanics, volume 64, number 3, page 408

   Splined bars are a big recent trend. Originally used in racing, the idea is to have a straight torsion bar with the ends splined like an axle and separate arms that fit on each end to mount the end links

   2011, Mark Savitske, How to Make Your Muscle Car Handle, page 85