Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Word of the day: theodolite

The word of the day is theodolite:

  1. Surveying. a precision instrument having a telescopic sight for establishing horizontal and sometimes vertical angles. Compare transit (def 6).

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/theodolite)

"Stevedores hauled the Jeannette's weapons on deck...  Next came the navigational and scientific equipment: chronometers, hydrometers, ozonometers, magnetometers, aneroid barometers, transits, sextants, pendulums, zenith telescopes, microscopes, test tubes, Bunsen burners, theodolites."

 - Hampton Sides, In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette

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