Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An instrument used to determine specific gravity, especially a sealed, graduated tube, weighted at one end, that sinks in a fluid to a depth used as a measure of the fluid's specific gravity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An instrument for measuring specific gravity, especially that of water and other fluids, and hence the strength of spirituous liquors and of various solutions.
  • noun An instrument used for measuring the velocity or discharge of water, as in rivers, from reservoirs, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Physics) An instrument for determining the specific gravities of liquids, and thence the strength spirituous liquors, saline solutions, etc.
  • noun An instrument, variously constructed, used for measuring the velocity or discharge of water, as in rivers, from reservoirs, etc., and called by various specific names according to its construction or use, as tachometer, rheometer, hydrometer, pendulum, etc.; a current gauge.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An instrument that floats in a liquid and measures its specific gravity on a scale.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a measuring instrument for determining the specific gravity of a liquid or solid

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The hydrometer is a sealed glass tube, with a graduated scale somewhat resembling a thermometer.

    Electricity for the farm Light, heat and power by inexpensive methods from the water wheel or farm engine Frederick Irving Anderson 1912

  • A wine grower uses an instrument called a hydrometer to measure the sugar content in a grape and also measures PH and titratable acidity to determine a grape's maturity or ripeness.

    The Green Bay Press-Gazette Latest Headlines 2010

  • I left the shop with flaked maize, Briess 6-row pale malted barley, Briess flaked rye, Weyermann rye malt, a 3-gallon carboy, three packets of Pasteur Champagne yeast, a hydrometer, and a thermometer.

    CHASING the WHITE DOG MAX WATMAN 2010

  • My hydrometer told me that I had specific gravity right around 1.100, which promises a potential alcohol of 13 percent in the wash.

    CHASING the WHITE DOG MAX WATMAN 2010

  • One of the key measurements in all fermentation is the relative measurement of the initial specific gravity in relation to the final specific gravity, as measured with a hydrometer.

    CHASING the WHITE DOG MAX WATMAN 2010

  • Water with sugar mixed in is denser than water without sugar, and the hydrometer measures the specific gravity and relates it to a potential alcohol content.

    CHASING the WHITE DOG MAX WATMAN 2010

  • There are two distilling runs but it's the second, known as a spirit run, that makes the difference, a process that involves continuously checking temperature and the density with a hydrometer.

    Brooklyn Whiskey Run 2010

  • Some of what I was there to buy cleaning agents, a spigot were innocent enough, but among the goods I finally laid on his table were five more packets of champagne yeast and a proofing hydrometer, which instead of measuring the specific gravity of sugar in water, measures the density of alcohol and gives you a percentage.

    CHASING the WHITE DOG MAX WATMAN 2010

  • Oenofile These five wines may have alcohol levels above 14% (the limit of what the federal government terms "table wine," typically measured with a hydrometer like the one illustrated at right), but they're all wines I'd be glad to have on my table.

    Wines That Pack A Little Extra Kick Lettie Teague 2010

  • I monitored the proof of the distillate, looking for the cutoff point by twirling a hydrometer in a graduated cylinder.

    CHASING the WHITE DOG MAX WATMAN 2010

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