alidade
Americannoun
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(in plane-tabling) a straightedge having a telescopic sight or other means of sighting parallel to the straightedge.
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the entire upper part of a theodolite or transit, including the telescope, its supports, the level vials, the circle-reading device, and the spindle.
noun
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a surveying instrument used in plane-tabling for drawing lines of sight on a distant object and taking angular measurements
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the upper rotatable part of a theodolite, including the telescope and its attachments
Etymology
Origin of alidade
1400–50; variant of alhidade < Medieval Latin alhidada < Arabic al-ʿiḍādah the turning radius (like a clock hand) of a circle; replacing late Middle English allydatha (< Old Spanish alhidada )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Escutia crouched down in front of his alidade - an age-old, compass-based device - and sighted the fire: 152 degrees, southwest.
From BBC • Aug. 15, 2022
The complete instrument would also have had a rotating pointer, called an alidade, mounted on a pin running through the central hole.
From Economist • Oct. 26, 2017
The second lesson takes up the preparation of the stride scale on the alidade and the different kinds of maps, made in military sketching.
From Military Instructors Manual by Schoonmaker, Oliver
An additional article of the sketcher's equipment is a holder for his pencils, alidade, eraser, knife, pins, etc.
From Manual of Military Training Second, Revised Edition by Moss, James A. (James Alfred)
Close by stood an alidade, an instrument for measuring angles.
From Historical Miniatures by Strindberg, August
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
