bascule

American  

[bas-kyool] / ˈbæs kjul /

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.

---

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

---

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

See Examples For:

bascule

Alternative approaches, including a tunnel, bascule bridge, third or supplemental bridge and even the “common sense alternative” do not meet the program’s criteria, Johnson said.

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

The movable span is of the single leaf bascule type operated by a windlass.

From Third Biennial Report of the Oregon State Highway Commission Covering the Period December 1st, 1916 to November 30th, 1918 by S. Benson

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---