in general, an interval between two things, either with regard to time or place. See Geometry.

Inaccessible Distances, in geometry, are such as may be measured by the chain, &c. See Geometry.

astronomy. The distance of the sun, planets, and comets, is found only from their parallax, as it cannot be found either by eclipses or their different phases: for from the theory of the motions of the earth and planets we know, at any time, the proportion of the distances of the sun and planets from us; and the horizontal parallaxes are in a reciprocal proportion to these distances. See Astronomy, n° 182.