Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An indicator or a sighting apparatus on a plane table, used in angular measurement.
- n. A topographic surveying and mapping instrument used for determining directions, consisting of a telescope and attached parts.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A movable arm passing over a graduated circle, and carrying a vernier or an index: an attachment of many instruments for measuring angles. See cut under sextant.
- n. A straight-edge carrying a telescope: an attachment of the plane-table for transferring to paper the direction of any object from the station occupied.
- n. Also written alhidade.
Wiktionary
- n. cartography, astronomy, surveying A sighting device used for measuring angles.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The portion of a graduated instrument, as a quadrant or astrolabe, carrying the sights or telescope, and showing the degrees cut off on the arc of the instrument.
WordNet 3.0
- n. surveying instrument consisting of the upper movable part of a theodolite including the telescope and its attachments
- n. surveying instrument used with a plane table for drawing lines of sight on a distant object and for measuring angles
Etymologies
- From French alidade, from Spanish alidada, from Arabic عِضَادة, perhaps from عضد "upper arm". (Wiktionary)
- French, from Medieval Latin alidada, sighting rod, from Arabic al-'iḍāda, the revolving radius of a circle : al-, the + 'iḍāda, revolving radius (alternate form of 'aḍud, humerus, from 'aḍada, to lop, cut (trees); see ʿṢ́d in Semitic roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The alidade is a triangular ruler with one or more working scales on it beside other measurements.”
“Surveyors would place an alidade on the plane table and sight along it to a particular object, then draw a line to indicate the bearing.”
“The mariner sighted the objects along a rule called an alidade.”
“And then our trademark and exclusive, shipwreck artifacts: This time we will have a genuine bronze astrolabe, the most complete and intact one we have ever handled, fully dated 1656 and well detailed, solid and stable, alidade intact, one of fewer than 80 pieces known and among the best from any wreck.”
Daniel Frank Sedwick Treasure and World Coin Auction #7 : Coin Collecting News
“Daddy was first attracted to seismic work because while in the Air Corps during World War II he had worked with an alidade and a transit -- in other words, it was the tools that drew him into what he would do for the rest of his life.”
“His foot caught on it in mid-leap, and he stumbled out onto the bridge wing, fetching up against the alidade.”
“Suraklin thought like that, you know," he said, making a minute adjustment to the rete and sighting along the alidade at the North Star, high in the frosty sky.”
“We find here the meridian circle, M, and the equator E, of the diagram shown in Fig. 3 (No. 4); but the circle with alidade is here replaced by a small aperture movable in a slide that is placed in”
“The line, a1 a2, that joins these axes is parallel with that which joins the axes of the two telescopes; and the alidades are connected electrically with the telescopes by a system such that each alidade always moves parallel with the telescope that corresponds to it.”
“One of the telescopes is then placed over its alidade and moves with it; and the apparatus thus comprehends only a system of synchronous movements.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘alidade’.
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Rare Words - A
Not just rare words, but thousands of RARE WORDS WITH DEFINITIONS.
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http://phrontistery.i...aba, abacinate, abactor, abaculus, abaft, abampere, abapical, abarticular, abasement, abasia, abask, abatis and 1214 more...
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Of Arabic Origin
Arabic loanwords in English are words acquired directly from Arabic or else indirectly by passing from Arabic into other languages and then into English. Most entered one or more of the Romance lan...
admiral, adobe, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, alfalfa, algebra, algorism, algorithm, alidade and 181 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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phrontistery - a
from phrontistery.info
axilla, avalement, argil, argent, argand, arete, aretaics, areometer, areology, arenoid, arenaceous, arefy and 1214 more...
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Loanwords,Arabic
Everbody knows where 'hazard' came from,More Arabic Words?
admiral, adobe, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, alfalfa, algebra, algorithm, alidade, alizarin and 15 more...
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Grounded Words
an Eckhartian exercise of grinding
grind, grist, refrain, ground, grit, mitochondrion, groats, grout, gruel, great, gruesome, gravel and 162 more...
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A River Runs Through It
Words and phrases from A River Runs Through It, & Other Stories by Norman Maclean.
gyppo, carborundum, railroader, prat, nemo me impune la..., manse, rune, underskin, dairymaid, angleworm, snoot, scarifying and 32 more...
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