transit instrument

American  

noun

1. Astronomy. meridian circle.

2. Surveying. transit.

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transit instrument British  

noun

1. an astronomical instrument, mounted on an E-W axis, in which the reticle of a telescope is always in the plane of the meridian. It is used to time the transit of a star, etc, across the meridian

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Etymology

Origin of transit instrument

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

The planetarium's dome will float over a reflecting pool, will house an "intermediate space transit instrument" which will project the heavens not only as they appear on earth but from the moon.

From Time Magazine Archive

Of or pertaining to the azimuth; in a horizontal circle. ÷ error of a transit instrument, its deviation in azimuth from the plane of the meridian.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Webster, Noah

The transit instrument is always reversed at least once in the course of an evening’s observing, the level being frequently read and recorded.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 6 "Geodesy" to "Geometry" by Various

Surveyors make use of this proposition when they wish, without using a transit instrument, to run one line parallel to another.

From The Teaching of Geometry by Smith, David Eugene

The microscopic deviation of the axis of a transit instrument from the horizontal position.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir