Lexic.us

Definition of Thermometer

1. Noun. Measuring instrument for measuring temperature.

Definition of Thermometer

1. n. An instrument for measuring temperature, founded on the principle that changes of temperature in bodies are accompanied by proportional changes in their volumes or dimensions.

Definition of Thermometer

1. Noun. An apparatus used to measure temperature. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Thermometer

1. [n -S]

Medical Definition of Thermometer

1. An instrument for measuring temperature, founded on the principle that changes of temperature in bodies are accompained by proportional changes in their volumes or dimensions. The thermometer usually consists of a glass tube of capillary bore, terminating in a bulb, and containing mercury or alcohol, which expanding or contracting according to the temperature to which it is exposed, indicates the degree of heat or cold by the amount of space occupied, as shown by the position of the top of the liquid column on a graduated scale. See Centigrade, Fahrenheit, and Reaumur. To reduce degrees Fahrenheit to degrees Centigrade, substract 32 deg and multiply by 5/9; to reduce degrees Centigrade to degrees Fahrenheit, multiply by 9/5 and add 32 deg . Air thermometer, Balance thermometer, etc. See Air, Balance, etc. Metallic thermometer, a form of thermometer indicating changes of temperature by the expansion or contraction of rods or strips of metal. Register thermometer, or Self-registering thermometer, a thermometer that registers the maximum and minimum of temperature occurring in the interval of time between two consecutive settings of the instrument. A common form contains a bit of steel wire to be pushed before the column and left at the point of maximum temperature, or a slide of enamel, which is drawn back by the liquid, and left within it at the point of minimum temperature. Origin: Thermal. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Thermometer

Literary usage of Thermometer

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1920)
"A form of thermometer designed to indicate the intensity of solar or terrestial ... The solar radia-- tion instalment consists of a thermometer with a ..."

2. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1920)
"Radiation thermometer.—A form of thermometer designed to indicate the intensity of solar ... The solar radiation instrument consists of a thermometer with a ..."

3. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General by Thomas Spencer Baynes (1888)
"(3) The carbonic acid gas thermometer with pressure 46 cm at 0°, and its indications calculated with the coefficient 271-59 ..."

4. A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in by John Pinkerton (1813)
"On the a3d, at three quarters after five in the morning, the thermometer was at iooo, or the freezing point, and, accordingly, we found the whole country ..."

5. Smithsonian Physical Tables by Smithsonian Institution, Thomas Gray (1896)
"Hydrogen thermometer compared with otters. This table gives the correction which added to the thermometer reading gives the temperature by the hydrogen ..."

6. Report of the Annual Meeting (1862)
"On an Electric Resistance thermometer for observing Temperatures at inaccessible situations. By CW SIEMENS. The Philosophical Magazine for January 1801 ..."

7. Methods of Practical Hygiene by Karl Bernhard Lehmann (1893)
"In both these apparatus the thermometer is immersed in the steam almost for its entire length, only the part from 90' projecting out for examination. ..."

8. A Textbook of Physics by John Henry Poynting, Joseph John Thomson (1906)
"Hydrogen thermometer.—For a long time the normal air thermometer gave the generally accepted scale of temperature. Since 1887, however, it has been ..."

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