chronometer
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From chrono- + -meter, possibly after the model of earlier French chronomètre (“metronome”), ultimately from Ancient Greek χρόνος (khrónos, “time”) + μέτρον (métron, “meter, measuring device”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /kɹəˈnɒm.ə.tə(ɹ)/
- (US) IPA(key): /kɹəˈnɑ.mə.tɚ/,
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /kɹəˈnɔm.ə.tə(ɹ)/
Noun
chronometer (plural chronometers)
- A device for measuring time, particularly a precision mechanism for measuring time of day.
- A wristwatch costs $20. A chronometer costs $20,000.
- 1825, “Transactions of the Society Instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce”, in Royal Society of Arts, Great Britain:
- The balances of all moveable time-keepers, the chronometer excepted, are prevented from vibrating beyond the proper arc by what is called bankings. The inferior escapements are very easily banked; a pin fixed in the balance, coming in contact with one or two studs, is sufficient for that purpose. […]
- 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “chapter 4”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, , published 1848, →OCLC:
- The stock-in-trade of this old gentleman comprised chronometers, barometers, telescopes, compasses, charts, maps, sextants, quadrants, and specimens of every kind of instrument used in the working of a ship's course, or the keeping of a ship's reckoning, or the prosecuting of a ship's discoveries.
- 1878 March 30, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic. Lecture Delivered at the Old South Church, March 30, 1878, Boston, Mass.: Houghton, Osgood and Company , published 1878, →OCLC, page 1:
- The sailors sail by chronometers that do not lose two or three seconds in a year, ever since Newton explained to Parliament that the way to improve navigation was to get good watches, and to offer public premiums for a better time-keeper than any then in use.
Synonyms
- timepiece (some uses)
Hyponyms
- clock, timepiece (some uses), watch, pocket watch; stopwatch, chronograph; chronoscope; sundial; hourglass; water clock, clepsydra; horologium, horologe (archaic)
Coordinate terms
- horology, chronometry (study of time); horologist, horologer (manufacturer)
Derived terms
Translations
device for measuring time, particularly time of day
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References
- “chronometer”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- Wolfgang Köberer, "On the First Use of the Term 'Chronometer'", The Mariner's Mirror, Vol. 106, No. 2, 2016, pp. 203–06
Anagrams
Dutch
Etymology
From French chronomètre.
Pronunciation
Noun
chronometer m (plural chronometers)