odometer

[ oh-dom-i-ter ]

noun

1. an instrument for measuring distance traveled, as by an automobile.

odometer

/ əʊ-; ɒˈdɒmɪtə /

noun

1. a device that records the number of miles that a bicycle or motor vehicle has travelled Also calledmileometer

odometer

/ ō-dŏm′ĭ-tər /

1. An instrument for indicating the distance traveled by a vehicle, typically by measuring the number of rotations of a wheel or fan whose rate of rotation depends on the speed of the vehicle.
2. Compare speedometer

Derived Forms

• oˈdometry, noun

Other Words From

• o·do·met·ri·cal [oh-d, uh, -, me, -tri-k, uh, l], adjective
• o·dome·try noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of odometer¹

1785–95, Americanism; variant of hodometer < Greek hodó ( s ) way + -meter

Word History and Origins

Origin of odometer¹

C18 hodometer, from Greek hodos way + -meter

Example Sentences

One way to implement a mileage tax would be to simply check a car’s odometer every year, and turn that into a charge drivers could pay in installments.

From Voice of San Diego

The guitar was a present, but it would dominate the back seat of my Volkswagen sedan, which has wobbly tires, a full trunk and 100,000 miles on the odometer.

From Time

Although the rules limited its use to inter-office travel on official government business, the truck’s odometer showed it drove 77,000 miles in the three years Ellicott had it, according to the tax office.

From The Daily Beast

For all of the miles New Horizons will put on its odometer, it will never set the record for the greatest distance a spacecraft will travel from Earth—the best it can do is come in fifth.

From Time

She also uses a separate handlebar odometer, so she doesn’t have to rely on her phone for mileage.

From Washington Post

Inferno pegs the odometer needle into the red at the outset and stays there for nearly 500 pages.

From The Daily Beast

We had been absent on our tour six weeks to a day and our odometer registered exactly 3070 miles.

From Project Gutenberg

The writer was given charge of the compass and the odometer, with instructions to report daily to Lieutenant Duane.

From Project Gutenberg

The odometer line measured to-day was twenty and a half miles.

From Project Gutenberg

Toward half past five the odometer on one of the dog-sleds registered a distance of three-quarters of a mile made since morning.

From Project Gutenberg

The other odometer, which was much more curious, appears to have been constructed by that emperor himself23.

From Project Gutenberg