\In*te"ri*or\, a. [L., compar. fr. inter between: cf.
F. int['e]rieur. See {Inter-}, and cf. {Intimate}.]
1. Being within any limits, inclosure, or substance; inside;
   internal; inner; -- opposed to {exterior}, or
   {superficial}; as, the interior apartments of a house; the
   interior surface of a hollow ball.
2. Remote from the limits, frontier, or shore; inland; as,
   the interior parts of a region or country.
{Interior angle} (Geom.), an angle formed between two sides,
   within any rectilinear figure, as a polygon, or between
   two parallel lines by these lines and another intersecting
   them; -- called also {internal angle}.
{Interior planets} (Astron.), those planets within the orbit
   of the earth.
{Interior screw}, a screw cut on an interior surface, as in a
   nut; a female screw.
Syn: Internal; inside; inner; inland; inward.

\In*te"ri*or\, n.
1. That which is within; the internal or inner part of a
   thing; the inside.
2. The inland part of a country, state, or kingdom.
{Department of the Interior}, that department of the
   government of the United States which has charge of
   pensions, patents, public lands and surveys, the Indians,
   education, etc.; that department of the government of a
   country which is specially charged with the internal
   affairs of that country; the home department.
{Secretary of the Interior}, the cabinet officer who, in the
   United States, is at the head of the Department of the
   Interior.