steelyard

American  

[steel-yahrd, stil-yerd] / ˈstilˌjɑrd, ˈstɪl jərd /

noun

1. a portable balance with two unequal arms, the longer one having a movable counterpoise and the shorter one bearing a hook or the like for holding the object to be weighed.

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steelyard British  

/ ˈstiːlˌjɑːd /

noun

1. a portable balance consisting of a pivoted bar with two unequal arms. The load is suspended from the shorter one and the bar is returned to the horizontal by adding weights to the longer one

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Etymology

Origin of steelyard

First recorded in 1630–40; steel + yard ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

steelyard

One crane operator in a steelyard was James J. Braddock, world heavyweight champion from 1935 to 1937, when he lost the crown to Joe Louis.

From New York Times ● Jul. 1, 2014

It was the first substantial improvement in the art of weighing since the Romans developed the graduated steelyard.

From Time Magazine Archive

Overcharges, for example, and skilful manipulations of the steelyard to make it lie, are not considered so much moral defects as tokens of an unusually active brain.

From Sidelights on Chinese Life by J. (John) Macgowan

Bismar, bis′mar, n. a kind of steelyard still used in Orkney.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

The sketch from Claude Lorraine, out of the “Book of Truth,” shows a great left angle composition of line not very satisfactory, owing to its lack of weight for the long arm of the steelyard.

From Pictorial Composition and the Critical Judgment of Pictures by Henry Rankin Poore

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