The ‘pivot’ on which any matter turns.

A central prop, which sustains any system (as Atlas was feigned to sustain the revolving heavens).

The relation between countries regarded as a common pivot on which they revolve; esp. the political association of 1936 (becoming in 1939 a military alliance) formed between Italy and Germany; later extended to that between Germany, Italy, and Japan; still later to that between other allied countries.

A ray passing through the centre of the eye or of a lense, or falling perpendicularly on it; the line which passes through the centres of the lenses in a telescope; the straight line from the eye to the object of sight.

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