diurnal
1. (of flowers) open during the day and closed at night
2. (of animals) active during the day
3. a service book containing all the canonical hours except matins
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
diurnal
(dÿ-er -năl) Happening during a 24-hour day; daily.Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006
Diurnal
(religion, spiritualism, and occult)Diurnal means “of or belonging to the day.” In classical astrology, particular planets were classified as diurnal and others as nocturnal, no matter where they were in a horoscope. In contemporary astrology, planets are diurnal if they are located above the horizon (i.e., in houses seven through 12). Often astrologers will say that planets above the horizon line show their influence more in the public sphere, whereas planets below the horizon are more private, but this distinction clearly breaks down when considering planets in such locations as the twelfth house (a largely private house situated above the horizon). The term “diurnal arc” refers to the distance, expressed in degrees and minutes of a circle, that a planet traverses between its rising in the east and its setting in the west. Classical astrology also classified signs as diurnal (the masculine signs) and nocturnal (the feminine signs).
Sources:
Bach, Eleanor. Astrology from A to Z: An Illustrated Source Book. New York: Philosophical Library, 1990.
Brau, Jean-Louis, Helen Weaver, and Allan Edmands. Larousse Encyclopedia of Astrology. New York: New American Library, 1980.
The Astrology Book, Second Edition © 2003 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.
diurnal
[dī′ərn·əl] (biology)
Active during daylight hours.
(science and technology)
Occuring during the daytime.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.