Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An optical instrument for measuring crystal angles, as between crystal faces.
- n. A radio receiver and directional antenna used as a system to determine the angular direction of incoming radio signals.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An instrument for measuring solid angles, or the inclination of planes, particularly the angles formed by the faces of crystals. A. contact- or hand-goniometer consists of a graduated circle or half-circle, with two arms movable about a center, and either attached or free. The edges of these arms are brought in close contact with the two surfaces, and the angle is then read off on the graduated arc. A reflecting goniometer consists of a graduated circle supported in either a vertical or a horizontal position upon a stand, and provided, first, with a more or less elaborate arrangement for adjusting and centering the crystal to be measured, so that the intersection edge shall be exactly in the axis of rotation of the circle, and, second, with one or (better) two telescopes; in the latter case one serves to project a signal, as a hair cross, upon the surface to be measured, and the other to observe this signal as reflected. The angle through which the graduated circle—that is the crystal—must be revolved to make the signal visible, first from one plane and then from the other, is the supplement of the true internal angle between the two faces. A contact-lever goniometer is provided with a graduated circle, like the last form, but a point connected with a delicate lever-system takes the place of the telescopes and eye to fix the position first of one and then of the other plane.
Wiktionary
- n. A device used to measure the angles of crystals.
- n. A radio direction finder.
- n. medicine An arthrometer (device for measuring the arc or range of mobility of a joint).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An instrument for measuring angles, especially the angles of crystals, or the inclination of planes.
WordNet 3.0
- n. direction finder that determines the angular direction of incoming radio signals
Etymologies
- gonio- + -meter (Wiktionary)
- Greek gōniā, angle; + -meter. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“MN This is a goniometer or instrument for measuring angles; it was a precision instrument, lightweight and easy to transport, and was used at sea to measure distances by angle and the height of heavenly bodies, which permitted the observer to determine his position.”
“He'd take sightings with compass, goniometer, and plumb bob.”
“As a measure of the high precision achieved by Siegbahn's spectrographs (which are held at a constant temperature and read, in tenths of seconds, by means of two microscopes mounted diametrically opposite one another on a precision goniometer) may be mentioned the fact that his energy-level values, arrived at thirty years ago, still serve for many purposes.”
“The refractive power of these yellow stones is remarkable, and the goniometer will probably reveal a higher index than is accorded to all the varieties of beryl by the learned Abbé Haüy.”
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 11, No. 27, June, 1873
“One day, during an interlude of free flight, he strode into the control-room and glanced at the course-plotting goniometer, then started into the "tank.”
“An important property of calcite is the great ease with which it may be cleaved in three directions; the three perfect cleavages are parallel to the faces of the primitive rhombohedron, and the angle between them was determined by W.H. Wollaston in 1812, with the aid of his newly invented reflective goniometer, to be 74° 55 '.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary"
“Under his right and left hands were the double-series potentiometers actuating the variable-speed drives of the flight-angle directors in the hour and declination ranges; before his eyes was the finely marked micrometer screen upon which the guiding goniometer threw its needle-point of light; powerful optical systems of prisms and lenses revealed to his sight the director-angles, down to fractional seconds of arc.”
“Mineralogy, the goniometer, the constancy of angles and the primary laws of derivation by Romé de Lisle, and next the discovery of types and the mathematical deduction of secondary forms by Haüy.”
“There may be a sort of horseback theory of geology; but mineralogy, and the natural sciences generally, must be investigated on foot, hammer or goniometer in hand.”
Memoirs of 30 Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘goniometer’.
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EN - fine scholarly language
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SCIE - Be the first...
... to use these words in spoken English and reap esteem. In the SPOKEN corpus of the COCA (full corpus: 450 million words) none of these occur.
stochastic, disputant, state-led, almshouse, exceptionality, bibliographical, t-test, z-score, personal/social, neoplastic, stroma, ludic and 288 more...
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phrontistery - g
from phrontistery.info
gabardine, gabbart, gabble, gabbro, gabelle, gabion, gablock, gad, gadarene, gadoid, gadroon, gadzookery and 439 more...
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lesser-known instruments of measurement
rulers, protractors, thermometers, and odometers are not all there is…
odynometer, algometer, hygrometer, anemometer, viameter, æsthesiometer, conchometer, derivometer, deformeter, dolorimeter, string-galvanometer, adipometer and 25 more...
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1406 more...
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all the angles
and sides
rangle, fangle, fingle-fangle, bangle, dangle, gangle, jangle, mangle, tangle, wangle, wrangle, brangle and 82 more...
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