Barometer

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Barometer \Ba*rom"e*ter\, n. [Gr. ba`ros 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.
     [1913 Webster]


  
     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.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {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.
        [1913 Webster] Barometric

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  barometer
       n : an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  48 Moby Thesaurus words for "barometer":
     aerological instrument, aneroid barometer, aneroidograph,
     barograph, barometrograph, canon, check, criterion, degree, feeler,
     gauge, glass, graduated scale, hurricane-hunter aircraft,
     hygrometer, measure, model, norm, parameter, pattern,
     pilot balloon, probe, quantity, radiosonde, random sample, reading,
     readout, recording barometer, rule, sample, scale, sound, sounder,
     standard, straw vote, test, touchstone, trial balloon, type,
     vacuometer, value, weather balloon, weather instrument,
     weather satellite, weather vane, weathercock, weatherglass,
     yardstick
  
  

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.