bathysphere

American  

[bath-uh-sfeer] / ˈbæθ əˌsfɪər /

noun

Oceanography.

1. a spherical diving apparatus from which to study deep-sea life, lowered into the ocean depths by a cable.

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bathysphere British  

/ ˈbæθɪˌsfɪə /

noun

1. a strong steel deep-sea diving sphere, lowered by cable

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bathysphere Scientific  

/ băth′ĭ-sfîr′ /

1. A hollow, spherical steel diving chamber in which people are lowered by cable from a surface vessel to explore the ocean depths. In 1934 a bathysphere carrying William Beebe and an associate reached a record depth of over 923 m (3,028 ft). Because space in the bathysphere is cramped, dives longer than three-and-a-half hours are intolerable, and it was eventually supplanted by the bathyscaphe.

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Etymology

Origin of bathysphere

First recorded in 1925–30; bathy- + -sphere

Example Sentences

A broken cable would send the bathysphere plummeting into oblivion.

From Scientific American

By the 1930s, US oceanographer and zoologist William Beebe was enrapturing the world with radio commentary delivered from a research submarine, the ‘bathysphere’, hundreds of metres down in Bermuda waters.

From Nature

This glittering abyss was captured by the first person to ever travel there: William Beebe, a pioneer of the deep-sea bathysphere .

From Washington Post

But they did not descend in the bathysphere.

From New York Times

They certainly would have enjoyed inventing the top-hat-sporting gent whose torso consists of a bathysphere, which turns out to contain — no spoilers here.

From Washington Post