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A trophy consisted originally of some of the armor, weapons, etc., of the defeated enemy fixed to the
trunk of a tree or to a post erected on an elevated site, with an inscription, and a dedication to a divinity.
The Romans often erected their trophies in the Capitol.
2. The representation of such a memorial, as on a medal; esp. (Arch.), an ornament representing a
group of arms and military weapons, offensive and defensive.
3. Anything taken from an enemy and preserved as a memorial of victory, as arms, flags, standards,
etc.
Around the posts hung helmets, darts, and spears,
And captive chariots, axes, shields, and bars,
And
broken beaks of ships, the trophies of their wars. Dryden. 4. Any evidence or memorial of victory or conquest; as, every redeemed soul is a trophy of grace.
Trophy money, a duty paid formerly in England, annually, by housekeepers, toward providing harness,
drums, colors, and the like, for the militia.
Tropic
(Trop"ic) a. [Atropine + -ic.] (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, an acid obtained from
atropine and certain other alkaloids, as a white crystalline substance slightly soluble in water.
Tropic
(Trop"ic), n. [F. tropique, L. tropicus of or belonging to a turn, i. e., of the sun, Gr. of the solstice,
(sc. ) the tropic or solstice, fr. to turn. See Trope.]
1. (Astron.) One of the two small circles of the celestial sphere, situated on each side of the equator,
at a distance of 23° 28&min, and parallel to it, which the sun just reaches at its greatest declination north
or south, and from which it turns again toward the equator, the northern circle being called the Tropic of
Cancer, and the southern the Tropic of Capricorn, from the names of the two signs at which they touch
the ecliptic.
2. (Geog.) (a) One of the two parallels of terrestrial latitude corresponding to the celestial tropics, and
called by the same names. (b) pl. The region lying between these parallels of latitude, or near them
on either side.
The brilliant flowers of the tropics bloom from the windows of the greenhouse and the saloon. Bancroft. Tropic
(Trop"ic), a. Of or pertaining to the tropics; tropical.
Tropic bird (Zoöl.), any one of three species of oceanic belonging to the genus Phaëthon, found chiefly
in tropical seas. They are mostly white, and have two central tail feathers very long and slender. The
yellow-billed tropic bird. Phaëthon flavirostris is found on the Atlantic coast of America, and is common
at the Bermudas, where it breeds.
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.
2. [From Trope.] Rhetorically changed from its exact original sense; being of the nature of a trope; figurative; metaphorical.
Jer. Taylor.
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. 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
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