theodolite
/θiːˈɒdəlaɪt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.75 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A surveying instrument, consisting of a small mounted telescope, used to measure horizontal and vertical angles.
Example Sentences
- "I drew outlines (according to my usual custom) of all the hills on the horizon before us, and took angles on them with the theodolite."
- "The height of those mountains was from five to seven thousand feet above our level, by angular measurement with a theodolite."
- "It was a lieutenant and a couple of privates of the 8th Hussars, with a stand like a theodolite, which the artilleryman told me was a heliograph."
- "Germany, of all countries, was most vitally concerned in it; but even a cave-dweller in La Fayette Square, seeking only a measure of motion since the Crusades, saw before his eyes, in the spring of 1903, a survey of future order or anarchy that would exhaust the power of his telescopes and defy the accuracy of his theodolites."
- "The process of setting up a theodolite is carried out in three stages: centring the theodolite, levelling the theodolite and elimination of parallax."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: theodolitus, θέᾱ, عِضَادَة