Thermometer

3 definitions found

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

  Thermometer \Ther*mom"e*ter\ (th[~e]r*m[o^]m"[-e]*t[~e]r), n.
     [Thermo- + -meter: cf. F. thermom[`e]tre. See {Thermal}.]
     (Physics)
     An instrument for measuring temperature, founded on the
     principle that changes of temperature in bodies are
     accompanied by proportional changes in their volumes or


     dimensions.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The thermometer usually consists of a glass tube of
           capillary bore, terminating in a bulb, and containing
           mercury or alcohol, which expanding or contracting
           according to the temperature to which it is exposed,
           indicates the degree of heat or cold by the amount of
           space occupied, as shown by the position of the top of
           the liquid column on a graduated scale. See
           {Centigrade}, {Fahrenheit}, and {R['e]aumur}.
           [1913 Webster] To reduce degrees Fahrenheit to degrees
           Centigrade, subtract 32[deg] and multiply by 5/9; to
           reduce degrees Centigrade to degrees Fahrenheit,
           multiply by 9/5 and add 32[deg].
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {Air thermometer}, {Balance thermometer}, etc. See under
        {Air}, {Balance}, etc.
  
     {Metallic thermometer}, a form of thermometer indicating
        changes of temperature by the expansion or contraction of
        rods or strips of metal.
  
     {Register thermometer}, or {Self-registering thermometer}, a
        thermometer that registers the maximum and minimum of
        temperature occurring in the interval of time between two
        consecutive settings of the instrument. A common form
        contains a bit of steel wire to be pushed before the
        column and left at the point of maximum temperature, or a
        slide of enamel, which is drawn back by the liquid, and
        left within it at the point of minimum temperature.
        [1913 Webster] Thermometric

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  thermometer
       n : measuring instrument for measuring temperature

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

  18 Moby Thesaurus words for "thermometer":
     calorimeter, clinical thermometer, cryometer, electric thermometer,
     galvanothermometer, gas thermometer, glass, meat thermometer,
     mercury, pyrometer, pyrometric cone, resistance pyrometer,
     telethermometer, thermal detector, thermocouple,
     thermoelectrometer, thermometrograph, thermostat