bascule

[ bas-kyool ]

nounCivil Engineering.

a device operating like a balance or seesaw, especially an arrangement of a movable bridge (bascule bridge ) by which the rising floor or section is counterbalanced by a weight.

Origin of bascule

First recorded in 1670–80; from French: name for a number of seesawlike mechanical devices, Middle French bacule, noun derivative of baculer “to strike on the buttocks” (probably originally, “to land on one's buttocks”), equivalent to bas “down” + -culer, verbal derivative of cul “rump, buttocks”; -s- by false analysis as bas(se) adjective + cule taken as a feminine noun; see base², culet

Words Nearby bascule

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bascule in a sentence

Each bascule consists of two main girders with cross girders and stringers.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 | Various
At the opening span of the Tower bridge (fig. 13) there are four main girders in each bascule.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 | Various
We shall see the poor devil get out of the carriage, and being fastened on to the bascule, and pulled into the lunette.
Fantmas | Pierre Souvestre
The cost has been set down at 65,000, or about one-thirtieth that of a suspension bridge, and one-third that of a bascule bridge.
The Romance of Modern Mechanism | Archibald Williams
The movable span is of the single leaf bascule type operated by a windlass.
Third Biennial Report of the Oregon State Highway Commission | S. Benson, W. L. Thompson, R. A. Booth, Herbert Nunn

British Dictionary definitions for bascule

bascule

/ (ˈbæskjuːl) /

noun

Also called: balance bridge, counterpoise bridge a bridge with a movable section hinged about a horizontal axis and counterbalanced by a weight: Compare drawbridge
a movable roadway forming part of such a bridge: Tower Bridge has two bascules

Origin of bascule

C17: from French: seesaw, from bas low + cul rump; see base ², culet

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Browse