caliper
Americannoun
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calipers
plural
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Usually calipers. an instrument for measuring thicknesses and internal or external diameters inaccessible to a scale, consisting usually of a pair of adjustable pivoted legs.
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any of various calibrated instruments for measuring thicknesses or distances between surfaces, usually having a screwed or sliding adjustable piece.
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thickness or depth, as of paper or a tree.
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Usually calipers. the pincers of an earwig.
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Automotive. the part of a disc-brake assembly that straddles the disc and presses the brake pads against it.
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a similar part used with a hand brake on a bicycle.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of caliper
First recorded in 1580–90; presumably variant of caliber
Vocabulary lists containing caliper
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Why shouldn’t cars in Europe have the same brake caliper or the same air-conditioning compressor as cars in China?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
It took a mechanic failing to do up the bolts on a rear brake caliper after qualifying to stop Verstappen winning in Australia two weeks ago.
From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2024
To do the work, the team used a large lathe to spin a detached brake rotor and caliper.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2024
Using a delicate magnetic caliper employed by violin makers to measure in millimeters an instrument’s walls and veneers, the conservators tracked the wood’s thickness at short intervals along the crack.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2024
Using a caliper and other special tools, Agent Burger, with the help of the Dallas police, took eleven of Morrison’s body measurements.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Using calipers, instruments designed to measure objects with great precision, the researchers compared the sizes of preserved crayfish.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
Pulling alongside the Portland Head Light, a lighthouse dating to 1791, Martin yanked up a trap that held three shiny lobsters, and then demonstrated how to measure their shells with calipers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
In the Netflix film, Swan demonstrates with calipers on a life-size, anatomically correct male baby doll in a coffee shop to the nervous titters of the participants.
From Slate ● Apr. 16, 2026
Sometimes Anis Pradhan would end a 10- or 12-hour workday only to tackle another project — tightening wheel covers, adjusting brake calipers and popping out small dents in a post-World War II single-engine plane.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2024
And down the causeway he raced, like a pair of wild calipers.
From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury
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