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barometer

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barometer


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Barometer  \Ba*rom"e*ter\,  n.  [Gr.  ?  weight  +  -meter:  cf  F. 
  barom[`e]tre.] 
  An  instrument  for  determining  the  weight  or  pressure  of  the 
  atmosphere,  and  hence  for  judging  of  the  probable  changes  of 
  weather,  or  for  ascertaining  the  height  of  any  ascent. 
 
  Note:  The  barometer  was  invented  by  Torricelli  at  Florence 
  about  1643.  It  is  made  in  its  simplest  form  by  filling 
  a  graduated  glass  tube  about  34  inches  long  with 
  mercury  and  inverting  it  in  a  cup  containing  mercury. 
  The  column  of  mercury  in  the  tube  descends  until 
  balanced  by  the  weight  of  the  atmosphere,  and  its  rise 
  or  fall  under  varying  conditions  is  a  measure  of  the 
  change  in  the  atmospheric  pressure.  At  the  sea  level 
  its  ordinary  height  is  about  30  inches  (760 
  millimeters).  See  {Sympiesometer}.  --Nichol. 
 
  {Aneroid  barometer}.  See  {Aneroid  barometer},  under 
  {Aneroid}. 
 
  {Marine  barometer},  a  barometer  with  tube  contracted  at 
  bottom  to  prevent  rapid  oscillations  of  the  mercury,  and 
  suspended  in  gimbals  from  an  arm  or  support  on  shipboard. 
 
 
  {Mountain  barometer},  a  portable  mercurial  barometer  with 
  tripod  support,  and  long  scale,  for  measuring  heights. 
 
  {Siphon  barometer},  a  barometer  having  a  tube  bent  like  a 
  hook  with  the  longer  leg  closed  at  the  top  The  height  of 
  the  mercury  in  the  longer  leg  shows  the  pressure  of  the 
  atmosphere. 
 
  {Wheel  barometer},  a  barometer  with  recurved  tube,  and  a 
  float,  from  which  a  cord  passes  over  a  pulley  and  moves  an 
  index. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  barometer 
  n  :  an  instrument  that  measures  atmospheric  pressure 
 
  From  THE  DEVIL'S  DICTIONARY  ((C)1911  Released  April  15  1993)  [devils]: 
 
  BAROMETER,  n.  An  ingenious  instrument  which  indicates  what  kind  of 
  weather  we  are  having 
 
 




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