Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A catch or lever that locks the movement of one part of a mechanism.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Anything used to check or prevent motion or approach; a catch; specifically, a pin, stud, or lever forming a check in a clock, watch, tumbler-lock, or other machine. The detent in a clock falls into the striking-wheel and stops it when the right number of strokes have been given. The detent of a ratchet-wheel prevents backward motion.
Wiktionary
- n. That which locks or unlocks a movement; a catch, pawl, or dog; especially, in clockwork, the catch which locks and unlocks the wheelwork in striking.
- v. The action of creating a detent mechanism to lock or unlock movement.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Mech.) That which locks or unlocks a movement; a catch, pawl, or dog; especially, in clockwork, the catch which locks and unlocks the wheelwork in striking.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a hinged catch that fits into a notch of a ratchet to move a wheel forward or prevent it from moving backward
Etymologies
- From French détente, from Latin tendere ("to stretch"). (Wiktionary)
- French détente, a loosening, from Old French destente, from feminine past participle of destendre, to release : des-, de- + tendre, to stretch (from Latin tendere; see ten- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Alps Electric Europe is offering a tiny momentary-type push switch with detent, which is ideal for mirror control for power window units and for the switching of electric devices in a motor vehicle.”
“The detent is a component that controls the movement of the shift lever and this area was the subject of a great deal of attention to achieve a positive click with each gear change.”
“If the so-called detent The lunacy of all this derangement has been a curious sideshow until this year when it became clear that it is all a part of an intended set-up.”
“Such approaches can be highly inaccurate, especially when non-sinusoidal excitation is used, and when there are pronounced non-linear effects involved - such as detent torque.”
“I have only missed one big game shot because of a malfunction ... that was a weak bolt shroud detent spring after 40,000 shots causing the bolt shroud to rotate and lock on a very fast follow up shot.”
A Top-Notch Working Rifle: David Petzal Reviews the Montana Rifle Company Model 1999 Ridgeline
“My only issue with the entry level Leupolds is that they do not have click detent rings.”
I just got a new .300 Win. Mag. It was a package deal and came with a scope.
“The accelerator pedal detent is very pronounced so that, in order to bring the V8's spleen up, you really have to hammer the throttle.”
The Wall Street Journal: Hyundai's Ur-Luxury Horse of a Different Dolor
“I shoot both of them and have no compaints after half a centry of hunting (I will admit, I did have to replace a weakening detent spring on my 90 year old Mauser action after about 40-50,000 rounds).”
“Spooling out 300 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque between 1,300 and 5,000 rpm, the N55 can hum quietly in city traffic or, with the right buttons pushed, gears engaged and the gas pedal squeezed beyond the downshift detent, absolutely haul butt.”
“There is a very small detent ball bearing that holds the safety in that very easy to loose.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘detent’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Russian Doll Words
A Russian Doll word is a word that, when you remove the first and last letters, is either the empty string, or a Russian Doll word. These are all of the 6 or more letter Russian Doll words found in...
waspiness, upraisers, strainers, sporangia, raspiness, prelatess, methanals, gaspiness, washings, uprisers, upraises, upraiser and 2373 more...
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Ratchet
From the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia:
"n. A detent or pivoted piece designed to fit into the teeth of a ratchet-wheel, permitting the wheel to rotate in one direction, but not in the ot...ratchet, ratchet-wheel, pallet, ratchet-wheel click, click-wheel, ratchet-pawl, dog, catch, click, pawl, ratchet bed-key, detent and 1 more...
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Horological Vocabulary
Just curious about using Wordnik's list functionality.
escapement, balance, detent, regulate, complication, balance wheel, caliber, ruby, movement, rate, lunette, simple movement and 10 more...
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Spelling Bee list 2011
Abalone, ablution, absolution, aboriginally, abstemious, academician, acclamation, accommodation, acculturation, acetic, acetone, acme and 590 more...
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jtc244's Words
queueing, strengths, leviathan, obsequious, milquetoast, obfuscate, corroborate, turmeric, axiomatic, homunculus, agnosia, doppelganger and 59 more...
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Missed words
Words I missed when practicing for the Spelling Bee
seicento, gnomon, clepsydra, detent, coccolithophore, gonyaulax, quoits, lamellibranch, alliteration, innocuous, saboteur, affenpinscher and 79 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for detent.
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