pantograph

American  

[pan-tuh-graf, -grahf] / ˈpæn təˌgræf, -ˌgrɑf /

noun

1. Also pantagraph an instrument for the mechanical copying of plans, diagrams, etc., on any desired scale.

2. Electricity. a device usually consisting of two parallel, hinged, double-diamond frames, for transferring current from an overhead wire to a vehicle, as a trolley car or electric locomotive.

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pantograph British  

/ pænˈtɒɡrəfə, ˌpæntəˈɡræfɪk, ˈpæntəˌɡrɑːf /

noun

1. an instrument consisting of pivoted levers for copying drawings, maps, etc, to any desired scale

2. a sliding type of current collector, esp a diamond-shaped frame mounted on a train roof in contact with an overhead wire

3. a device consisting of a parallelogram of jointed rods used to suspend a studio lamp so that its height can be adjusted

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Other Word Forms

• pantographer
  noun
• pantographic
  adjective
• pantographical
  adjective
• pantographically
  adverb
• pantography
  noun

Etymology

Origin of pantograph

First recorded in 1715–25; panto- + -graph

Example Sentences

I’m probably best known for the Pantograph series, and in Europe the intersecting staircase called Diagint.

From The Wall Street Journal • Aug. 30, 2016

He is said to be worth about half a million dollars, with an income, including his $12,000-a-year salary as governor and dividends from the Bloomington Pantograph stock and other property, of about $50,000 a year.

From Time Magazine Archive

Pantograph doors on each side lead to the wide side decks for line handling.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sharing their plans was Brother John's good Harvard friend Davis Merwin, who in Bloomington, Ill. was running his family's 99-year-old Pantograph, and running it well enough to make it top-flight among small-town papers.

From Time Magazine Archive

Pantograph, pan′tō-graf, n. an instrument for copying drawings, plans, &c. on the same, or a different, scale from the original.—adjs.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various