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; base ², culet

Example Sentences

But Tower Bridge's roads were too heavy to be opened in that way, so it is instead a bascule bridge, in which the roads move like a seesaw and pivot.

From BBC • Dec. 30, 2024

Though teased by the temporary span, voters in 1921 continued to point thumbs down for the bascule.

From Seattle Times • May 25, 2023

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

"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