dumpy level

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noun Surveying.

an instrument consisting of a spirit level mounted under and parallel to a telescope, the latter being rigidly attached to its supports.

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Origin of dumpy level

First recorded in 1830–40

Words nearby dumpy level

dumpster, dumpster diving, dumpster fire, dump truck, dumpy, dumpy level, dum spiro, spero, Dumuzi, dum vivimus, vivamus, Dumyat, dun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use dumpy level in a sentence

If she got caught with a shank, they would up her custody level.
How a ‘Real Housewife’ Survives Prison: ‘I Don’t See [Teresa Giudice] Having a Cakewalk Here’|Michael Howard|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
However, the Air Force is so strapped for people that the ratio has dropped below even that reduced level.
Exclusive: U.S. Drone Fleet at ‘Breaking Point,’ Air Force Says|Dave Majumdar|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“The level of outside support… has not been sufficient enough for them to distance themselves from al Nusra,” Cafarella said.
ISIS Fight Has a Spy Shortage, Intel Chair Says|Kimberly Dozier|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Occasionally, a level will take 20 or more strokes to complete.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Summonses for low-level offenses like public drinking and urination fell 94 percent—from 4,831 to 300.
Ground Zero of the NYPD Slowdown|Batya Ungar-Sargon|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Behold a dumpy, comfortable British paterfamilias in a light flannel suit and a faded sun hat.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
"Here's my authority, yuh blasted runt," he yelled, and jerked his six-shooter to a level with the policeman's breast.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
Yet a child coming under the humanising influences of culture soon gets far away from the level of the savage.
Children's Ways|James Sully
The height of the tower from the level of the street is 105 feet, the slated towers over the lateral pediments being smaller.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
We were about nine hours of fair daylight traversing 160 miles of level or descending grade, with a light passenger train.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley

British Dictionary definitions for dumpy level

dumpy level

noun

surveying a levelling instrument consisting of a horizontal telescope with various rotational arrangements and a spirit level

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012