parallel ruler

British

noun

engineering a drawing instrument in which two parallel edges are connected so that they remain parallel, although the distance between them can be varied

"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

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.

The exercises were growing more complex and difficult: navigation by leg dividers and a parallel ruler; docking in 30 mph wind; sailing around an entire island; trying to rescue Mick’s hat, which blew overboard.

From Washington Post • Sep. 6, 2017

O B D is a light bar passing freely through B and forming one side of a parallel ruler of two or more points, g g, h h, i i.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 794, March 21, 1891 by Various

One brass rolling parallel ruler, two feet long; must not weigh less than five pounds.

From Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia by Wills, William John

By this process the parallel ruler could be moved all over the chart without losing the course from one point to the other.

From Outward Bound Or, Young America Afloat by Optic, Oliver

Foster unrolled the large chart of the North Atlantic Ocean upon the dinner table, and with parallel ruler, pencil, and compasses, proceeded to perform his duty.

From Outward Bound Or, Young America Afloat by Optic, Oliver

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023