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—surfaceless, adj. —surfacer, n.n.1. the outer face, outside, or exterior boundary of a thing; outermost or uppermost layer or area.2. any face of a body or thing: the six surfaces of a cube.3. extent or area of outer face; superficial area.4. the outward appearance, esp. as distinguished from the inner nature: to look below the surface of a matter.5. Geom. any figure having only two dimensions; part or all of the boundary of a solid.6. land or sea transportation, rather than air, underground, or undersea transportation.7. Aeron. an airfoil.adj.8. of, on, or pertaining to the surface; external.9. apparent rather than real; superficial: to be guilty of surface judgments.11. Ling. belonging to a late stage in the transformational derivation of a sentence; belonging to the surface structure.v.t.12. to finish the surface of; give a particular kind of surface to; make even or smooth.13. to bring to the surface; cause to appear openly: Depth charges surfaced the sub. So far we've surfaced no applicants.v.i.14. to rise to the surface: The submarine surfaced after four days.15. to work on or at the surface.[1605-15; < F, equiv. to sur- SUR-1 + face FACE, appar. modeled on L superficies SUPERFICIES]
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IIn geometry, a two-dimensional collection of points (flat surface), a three-dimensional collection of points whose cross section is a curve (curved surface), or the boundary of any three-dimensional solid.In general, a surface is a continuous boundary dividing a three-dimensional space into two regions. For example, the surface of a sphere separates the interior from the exterior; a horizontal plane separates the half-plane above it from the half-plane below. Surfaces are often called by the names of the regions they enclose, but a surface is essentially two-dimensional and has an area, while the region it encloses is three-dimensional and has a volume. The attributes of surfaces, and in particular the idea of curvature, are investigated in differential geometry.IIOutermost layer of a material or substance.Because the particles (atoms or molecules) on the surface have nearest neighbours beside and below but not above, the physical and chemical properties of a surface differ from those of the bulk material; surface chemistry is thus a branch of physical chemistry. The growth of crystals, the actions of catalysts and detergents, and the phenomena of adsorption, surface tension, and capillarity are aspects of behaviour at surfaces. The appearance of the surface, whether achieved with electroplating, paint, oxidation-reduction, bleaching (see bleach), or another means, is aesthetically important.* * *
Universalium. 2010.