Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An instrument for showing the direction of the earth's magnetism.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Any mass of soft iron in the position of the dipping-needle is sensibly magnetic, and a solution of continuity is thus indicated by the vibrations of the delicately poised instrument.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 12, No. 31, October, 1873 Various
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Our instruments interested him deeply, and one day our house was filled with all the monks of San Francisco, begging to see a dipping-needle.
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In a canoe not three feet wide, and so incumbered, there remained no other place for the dried plants, trunks, a sextant, a dipping-needle, and the meteorological instruments, than the space below the lattice-work of branches, on which we were compelled to remain stretched the greater part of the day.
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Among those who remained with us was a Congo black, who evinced great address, bearing on his head a large dipping-needle: he held it constantly steady, notwithstanding the extreme declivity of the rocks.
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We could not verify this estimate of the height, the surf not having permitted us to return on board during the night, to take our barometers and dipping-needle.
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Part of this work is on a dipping-needle of the author's construction.
A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume I (of II) Augustus De Morgan 1838
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These two points of the position of the dipping-needle and the motion of the watch hands being remembered, any other relation of the current and magnet can be at once deduced from it.
Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 Michael Faraday 1829
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At this place we first perceived the north end of our dipping-needle to pass the perpendicular line when the instrument was faced to the west.
Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819-20-21-22, Volume 1 John Franklin 1816
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At this place we first perceived the north end of our dipping-needle to pass the perpendicular line when the instrument was faced to the west.
The Journey to the Polar Sea John Franklin 1816
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We could not verify this estimate of the height, the surf not having permitted us to return on board during the night, to take our barometers and dipping-needle.
Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 1 Alexander von Humboldt 1814
chained_bear commented on the word dipping-needle
"A magnetic needle mounted so that it can move in a vertical plane about its center of gravity and thus indicate by its dip the direction of the earth's magnetism," according to A Sea of Words, p. 172.
See hygrometer for a usage note.
March 3, 2008