Real Dictionary

Ptolemaic system in American English
the theory, systematized by Ptolemy, postulating the earth as the center or fixed point of the universe, around which the celestial bodies move
noun: a system elaborated by Ptolemy and subsequently modified by others, according to which the earth was the fixed center of the universe, with the heavenly bodies moving about it

Ptolemaic system in British English
noun: the theory of planetary motion developed by Ptolemy from the hypotheses of earlier philosophers, stating that the earth lay at the centre of the universe with the sun, the moon, and the known planets revolving around it in complicated orbits. Beyond the l