clepsydra
noun
an ancient device for measuring time by the regulated flow of water or mercury through a small aperture.
clepsydras
-
pluralof clepsydra.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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.
Before there were hour-glasses and clepsydras, most phenomena could be estimated as to their durations and intervals, with no greater precision than degrees of hardness can be estimated by the fingers.
From Essays on Education and Kindred Subjects Everyman's Library by Herbert Spencer
The Arabian astronomers also devoted themselves to the construction and perfection of astronomical instruments, to the measurement of time by clocks of various kinds, by clepsydras and sun-dials.
From History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science by John William Draper
"As near accuracy," I said, "as any clepsydras ever made."
From Andivius Hedulio Adventures of a Roman Nobleman in the Days of the Empire by Edward Lucas White
And in Rome the sun-dials, the clepsydras and the hour-glass were used for the same purpose, and more generally than in Greece, to regulate the hours of business and pleasure.
From Inventions in the Century by William Henry Doolittle
The flight of time in New England houses was marked without doors by sun-dials; within, by noon-marks, hour-glasses, and rarely by clepsydras, or water-clocks.
From Customs and Fashions in Old New England by Alice Morse Earle
