| 释义 |
barometer|bəˈrɒmɪtə(r)|
Also 7 barrim-.
[f. Gr. βάρο-ς weight + µέτρον measure.]
An instrument for determining the weight or pressure of the atmosphere, and hence for judging of probable changes in the weather, ascertaining the height of an ascent, etc.
(The common barometer is a straight glass tube, 34 inches long and closed at the top, filled with mercury, and inverted in an open cup of the same liquid. The siphon barometer is a curved tube, with the mercury in the shorter limb exposed to the air; it is adapted as the wheel barometer found in ordinary weather-glasses by putting on the mercury in the shorter limb a float with a cord attached, which passes over a pulley, and as the float rises or falls, moves the indicating hand. For very exact readings a lofty tube filled with glycerine is sometimes used. See also aneroid.)
1665–6Phil. Trans. I. 153 A Barometer or Baroscope first made publick by that Noble Searcher of Nature, Mr. Boyle. 1672Petty Pol. Anat. (1691) 48 Changes in the Air..known by the Instrument call'd the Barrimeter. 1723S. Centlivre Gamester i. i, Your fob, like a Barometer, shews the temper of your heart, as that does the weather. 1813Sir R. Wilson Diary II. 278 The Lutzen impression has made the bone of my left leg quite a barometer. [See aneroid.]
fig.1752Hume Pol. Disc. iv. 73 Interest is the true barometer of the State. 1827Hare Guesses Ser. i. (1873) 154 Languages are the barometers of national thought and character. 1870M. Bridgman R. Lynne I. xi. 173 The barometer of Mr. Selwyn's temper stood at stormy.
b. barometer-gauge: an appliance resembling a barometer, attached to the receiver of an air-pump to indicate the rarity of the air within.
1783Cavallo in Phil. Trans. LXXIII. 449 A long barometer-gage was adapted to the pump by means of a bent brass tube. |