Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A device consisting of two logarithmically scaled rules mounted to slide along each other so that multiplication, division, and other more complex computations are reduced to the mechanical equivalent of addition or subtraction.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A sliding rule. See slide.
Wiktionary
- n. An analog calculator consisting of three interlocking strips marked with logarithmic scales, such that multiplication, division etc. can be performed by the equivalent of addition and subtraction.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. a mathematical instrument consisting of two parts, one of which slides upon the other, for the mechanical performance of addition and subtraction, and, by means of logarithmic scales, of multiplication and division.
- n. a thin, flat calculating device consisting of a fixed outer piece and a movable middle piece. Both pieces are graduated in such a way (as, by a logarithmic scale) that multiplication, division, and other mathematical functions of an input variable may be rapidly determined by movement of the middle pieces to a location on one scale corresponding to the input value, and reading off the result on another scale. A movable window with a hairline assists in alignment of the scales. This device has been largely superseded by the electronic calculator, which has a greater precision than the slide rule. Also called colloquially
slipstick .
WordNet 3.0
- n. analog computer consisting of a handheld instrument used for rapid calculations; have been replaced by pocket calculators
Examples
“At our debriefing of the incident at the Monday astronaut meeting, others wondered how many other slide rule jockeys were violating the prime directive of engineering: Betteris the enemy ofgood enough.”
“With their timer running and the magic carefully channeled, George Mercer set his slide rule spinning in midair.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘slide rule’.
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SCIE - noun-noun collocations
The collocations below consist of nouns only. Noun-noun collocations are extremely frequent in science (just think of the names of species, chemical compounds or "scientist+invention" type collocat...
dust bowl, walking stick, rain forest, cherry tree, sugar maple, asteroid belt, boll weevil, weather forecast, sulphur dioxide, lake trout, heart rate, rainbow trout and 480 more...
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Public List: Calculating Devices
Some interesting pre-electronic number crunchers.
difference engine, lebombo bone, ishango bone, abacus, antikythera mecha..., napier's bones, calculating clock, pascaline, stepped reckoner, jacquard loom, arithmometer, arithmetique and 11 more...
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Slip Slidin' Away
Slip Slidin' Away, slide, slide guitar, slidden, slid, slip-slided, backslidden, slider, tornado slide, slide rule, slipstick, sliding scale and 29 more...
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Things from my memory
nigger baby, mexican jumping bean, puddle jumper, mood ring, pet rock, cat scratch fever, taxman, hippie, vaseline, argyrol, mercurchrome, methiolade and 655 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for slide rule.
skipvia A calculating device with sliding scales that can perform a range of mathematical and scientific calculations, including logarithms, roots, powers, exponentials. The modern form appeared in 1859 as an artillery calculator. Slide rules were in common use until electronic calculators appeared in the 1960s. See Calculating Devices. Jan 26, 2008