bascule

American  

[bas-kyool] / ˈbæs kyul /

noun

Civil Engineering.

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

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bascule British  

/ ˈbæskjuːl /

noun

1. Also called: balance bridge.   counterpoise bridge.  a bridge with a movable section hinged about a horizontal axis and counterbalanced by a weight Compare drawbridge

2. a movable roadway forming part of such a bridge

   Tower Bridge has two bascules

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Etymology

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 base ², culet

Example Sentences

A bascule bridge is a drawbridge with one or two leafs that open with an upward swing, giving river traffic unlimited clearance.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 24, 2022

Dismantling the bascule bridge at the mouth of the Black River and shifting the parts elsewhere would probably cost a lot more than that.

From Washington Times • Dec. 31, 2018

Tower Bridge was the largest and most sophisticated bascule bridge ever built when it was finished in 1894.

From The Guardian • May 22, 2018

But a winner, he says, needs to have some bascule or show such power that its trajectory will carry it “flat like an arrow” uphill over a 4-foot-10-inch fence.

From Washington Post • Apr. 10, 2015

"We shall see the poor devil get out of the carriage, and being fastened on to the bascule, and pulled into the lunette."

From Fantômas by Metcalfe, Cranstoun