aneroid barometer

American  

noun

1. a device for measuring atmospheric pressure, often specially calibrated for use as an altimeter, consisting of a box or chamber partially exhausted of air, having an elastic top and a pointer to indicate the degree of compression of the top caused by the external air.

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aneroid barometer British  

noun

1. a device for measuring atmospheric pressure without the use of fluids. It consists of a partially evacuated metal chamber, the thin corrugated lid of which is displaced by variations in the external air pressure. This displacement is magnified by levers and made to operate a pointer

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aneroid barometer Scientific  

/ ăn′ə-roid′ /

1. A barometer consisting of a thin elastic disk covering a chamber that contains a partial vacuum. High atmospheric pressure pushes against the disk and causes it to bulge inward, while low pressure does not push as hard, allowing the disk to bulge outward. An aneroid barometer is smaller and more portable than a mercury barometer and, when used with a barograph, can record up to a week's worth of data. Aneroid barometers are used extensively in aviation as part of altimeters.

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Etymology

Origin of aneroid barometer

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

Trekking to a mountain top, he used an aneroid barometer to help him calculate its height.

From BBC • Nov. 13, 2013

An excellent aneroid barometer, taken safe and sound out of its wadded box, was carefully hung on a hook in the wall.

From All Around the Moon by Roth, Edward

Muir's aneroid barometer showed a height of about seven thousand feet, and the wall of rock towered threateningly above us, leaning out in places, a thousand feet or so above the glacier.

From Alaska Days with John Muir by Young, Samual Hall

Pity that I had no aneroid barometer for ascertaining the elevation of that site.

From Byeways in Palestine by Finn, James

I think that a rough altitude gauge could be calculated from the time rice takes to boil—at least as reliable as an aneroid barometer.

From The Ascent of Denali (Mount McKinley) A Narrative of the First Complete Ascent of the Highest Peak in North America by Stuck, Hudson