Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Barometer |
BarometerNoun1. An instrument that measures atmospheric pressure. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "barometer" was first used: 1665. (references) |
Etymology: Barometer \Ba*rom"e*ter\, noun. [Greek expression weight -meter: compare to the French expression barom[`e]tre.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Satire | BAROMETER, n. An ingenious instrument which indicates what kind of weather we are having. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Dream Interpretation | To see a barometer in a dream, foretells a change will soon take place in your affairs, which will prove profitable to you. If it is broken, you will find displeasing incidents in your business, arising unexpectedly. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Geography | An instrument for determining atmospheric pressure. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mechanical Engineering | Instrument for determining atmospheric pressure. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | An instrument that is used to measure atmospheric pressure. It may be either a mercury barometer or an aneroid barometer. See also:barograph. (references) |
Science | An instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure. A standard mercury barometer has a glass column about 30 inches long, closed at one end, with a mercury-filled reservoir. Mercury in the tube adjusts until the weight of the mercury column balances the atmospheric force exerted on the reservoir. High atmospheric pressure forces the mercury higher in the column. Low pressure allows the mercury to drop to a lower level in the column. An aneroid barometer uses a small, flexible metal box called an aneroid cell. The box is tightly sealed after some of the air is removed, so that small changes in external air pressure cause the cell to expand or contract. (references) |
Solar | An instrument that measures atmospheric pressure. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A standard mercury barometer has a glass column about 76 cm (30 inches) long, closed at one end, with a mercury-filled reservoir. Mercury in the tube adjusts until the weight of the mercury column balances the atmospheric force exerted on the reservoir. High atmospheric pressure forces the mercury higher in the column. Low pressure allows the mercury to drop to a lower level in the column. The first mercury barometer was devised by Evangelista Torricelli, a student of Galileo, in 1644. Torricelli had set out to create a perfect vacuum, and an instrument to measure air pressure. He succeeded in creating a vacuum in the top of a tube of mercury. Torricelli also noticed that the level of the mercury in the tube changed slightly each day and concluded that this was due to the changing pressure in the atmosphere. He wrote: We live submerged at the bottom of an ocean of elementary air, which is known by incontestable experiments to have weight.
Another type of barometer, the aneroid barometer, uses a small, flexible metal box called an aneroid cell. The box is tightly sealed after some of the air is removed, so that small changes in external air pressure cause the cell to expand or contract. This expansion and contraction drives a series of mechanical levers and other devises which are displayed on the face of the aneriod barometer. Even though there is no column of mercury inside, most aneroid barometer displays are still calibrated to read in units of inches of mercury.
A barometer is used for weather prediction as follows: Increasing pressure predicts fair weather. Decreasing pressure predicts rain, storms, etc.
The concept of "decreasing pressure means bad weather" is the basis for a primitive weather prediction device called a weather glass or thunder glass. It consists of a glass container with a spout. The container is filled with water up to about the middle of the spout. (Some air is left in the main body of the container.) The idea is this: When the air pressure decreases, the pressure of the air pocket inside the device will push some of the water up the spout. If the air pressure is low enough, some of the water may even drip out of the spout.
See Also
Internet humor/How to measure the height of a building with a Barometer
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Barometer."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| bar. | English | Barometer | Geography, Meteorology & Standards |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Air | Weather, climate, rise and fall of the barometer, isobar. |
Aerology, aerometry, aeroscopy, aeroscopy, aerography; meteorology, climatology; pneumatics; eudioscope, baroscope, aeroscope, eudiometer, barometer, aerometer; aneroid, baroscope; weather gauge, weather glass,aerology, aerometry, aeroscopy, aeroscopy, aerography; meteorology, climatology; pneumatics; eudioscope, baroscope, aeroscope, eudiometer, barometer, aerometer; aneroid, baroscope; weather gauge, weather glass, weather cock. | |
Experiment | Grope; feel one's way, grope for one's way; fumble, t_tonner, aller _ t_tons, put out a feeler, throw out a feeler; send up a trial balloon, send up a pilot balloon; see how the land lies, get the lay of the land, test the waters, feel out, sound out, take the pulse, see, check, check out, see how the wind blows; consult the barometer; feel the pulse; fish for, bob for; cast for, beat about for; angle, trawl, cast one's net, beat the bushes. |
Measurement | Bathometer, galvanometer, heliometer, interferometer, odometer, ombrometer, pantometer, pluviometer, pneumatometer, pneumometer, radiometer, refractometer, respirometer, rheometer, spirometer, telemeter, udometer, vacuometer, variometer, viameter, thermometer, thermistor (heat), barometer (air), anemometer (wind), dynamometer, goniometer (angle) meter; landmark; (limit); balance, scale; (weight); marigraph, pneumatograph, stethograph; rain gauge, rain gage; voltmeter(volts), ammeter(amps); spectrophotometer (light absorbance); mass spectrophotometer(molecular mass); geiger counter, scintillation counter(radioactivity); pycnometer (liquid density); graduated cylinder, volumetric flask (volume); radar gun (velocity); radar (distance); side-looking radar (shape, topography); sonar (depth in water); light meter (light intensity); clock, watch, stopwatch, chronometer (time); anemometer (wind velocity); densitometer (color intensity). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | The answering machine is like a relationship barometer. (Seinfeld; writing credit: Andreas Lenze; Bea Schmidt) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Barometer (2002) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
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Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Thermometers and barometer in: Beschreibung der meteorologischen Instrumente... . by Augustin Stark, published in 1815. Library Call Number QC876 .S72 1815. Credit: Treasures of the Library. |  | Title page to: A physical dissertation, concerning the cause of the variation of the barometer ...., by Jacques de Roubaix. Printed in 1721. Check out note concerning "that it is impossible to find out the longitude"! Library Call Number QC891 .R85 1721. Credit: Treasures of the Library. |
 | Marine barometer, p. 10. In: A treatise on the aneroid, a newly invented portable barometer .... by Edward J. Dent, 1790-1853. Published in 1849. Library Call Number QC896 .D46 1849. Credit: Treasures of the Library. |  | Figure 40. Aneroid barometer register for recording the pressure readings of an aneroid barometer. The aneroid barometer was invented by the French instrument -maker Lucien Vide in 1843. This register was constructed by the firm of Richard Brothers and described by Hippolyte Sebert in 1882 and appeared in the a notice put out by the firm in 1886. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |
 | Figure 41. Aneroid barometer with register built by the firm of Richard Brothers. This model was meant for use on vessels. This particular instrument was used by Prince Albert I of Monaco on board the PRINCESS ALICE and PRINCESS ALICE II between 1892 and 1899. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |  | Figures 1, 2, and 3 are the barometer records of various storms encountered by the HIRONDELLE in 1887. Figure 4 is a record of barometric pressure during periods of hazy mist and clearing. In: "Results of the Scientific Campaigns of the Prince of Monaco." Vol. 84. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |
 | Prosperity barometer. Our neighbor whose name is on all the sucker lists says mail is almost back to normal --. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Eight-foot mercury barometer and water pumping demonstration from four-story house proving law that height of fluids raised by suction or pressure varies inversely to its specific gravity. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Hungered for love and power--Finds in him a barometer of his changing times--Henry Ward Beecher. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Instruments in wheel house of El Rito, barometer, thermometer, and fog horn, Louisiana. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | The food service industry is the main buyer of commercial cooking equipment; thus, trends in that sector are a barometer for what will happen to sales in the commercial cooking equipment market. (references) | |
Economic History | Bangladesh | The BDG's privatization efforts have been watched closely as a barometer of the official attitude towards the private sector. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | FRIENDSHIP, n. A ship big enough to carry two in fair weather, but only one in foul. The sea was calm and the sky was blue; Merrily, merrily sailed we two. (High barometer maketh glad.) On the tipsy ship, with a dreadful shout, The tempest descended and we fell out. (O the walking is nasty bad!) Armit Huff Bettle |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Barometer" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 79.74% of the time. "Barometer" is used about 153 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 79.74% | 122 | 29,069 |
| Adjective (comparative) | 11.11% | 17 | 85,106 |
| Noun (proper) | 9.15% | 14 | 93,893 |
| Total | 100.00% | 153 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "barometer": adjustable cistern barometer ♦ Aneroid barometer ♦ Fortin barometer ♦ Marine barometer ♦ mercury barometer ♦ mountain barometer ♦ recording barometer ♦ rise and fall of the barometer ♦ siphon barometer ♦ water barometer ♦ wheel barometer. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "barometer": barometer-thermometer. | |
Ending with "barometer": euro-barometer. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "barometer"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | barometer. (various references) | |
Albanian | barometër (glass, rain glass, weatherglass). (various references) | |
Arabic | كل ما يسجل التغييرات, مقياس الضغط الجوي, بارومترمقياس الضغط الجوي. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | барометър (aneroid, glass, weatherglass). (various references) | |
Chinese | 晴雨表 . (various references) | |
Czech | barometr (glass), tlakomìr (weather glass, weatherglass). (various references) | |
Danish | barometer. (various references) | |
Dutch | barometer, drukmeter (blood pressure apparatus, blood pressure cuff, blood-pressure meter, haematomanometer, hemadynamometer, hematometer, sphygmomanometer, tensiometer). (various references) | |
Esperanto | barometro. (various references) | |
Farsi | فشارسنج(برای اندازه گیری فشارهوا), میزان الهواء , هواسنج . (various references) | |
Finnish | ilmapuntari (weather-glass). (various references) | |
French | baromètre. (various references) | |
Frisian | waarglês. (various references) | |
German | barometer (barometers, glass). (various references) | |
Greek | βαρόμετρο (weather glass, weatherglass). (various references) | |
Hebrew | ברומטר. (various references) | |
Hungarian | légnyomásmérõ. (various references) | |
Indonesian | barometer. (various references) | |
Italian | barometro. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | バロック音楽 (advance, ballon d essai, Bangkok, banjo, bank, banker, banquet, banshee, bantam, baron, Baroque music, bun, bungalow, bunker, van, Van Allen, Vancouver), 晴雨計 , 気圧計 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | バロメーター , バロメータ , きあつけい, せいうけい. (various references) | |
Korean | 기압계. (various references) | |
Manx | gless earish, aer-veih. (various references) | |
Papiamen | barometer. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | arometerbay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | barómetro, barômetro (rain-glass, weatherglass). (various references) | |
Romanian | barometru (glass, rain glass). (various references) | |
Russian | барометр (aneroid, barrometer, glass, rain glass, rain-glass, weatherglass, weather-glass). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | barometar (aneroid, weatherglass). (various references) | |
Spanish | barómetro (glass). (various references) | |
Swedish | barometer (rain glass, weather glass). (various references) | |
Thai | เครื่องวั"ความ"ันของบรรยากาศที่ไม่ใช้ปรอท (aneroid barometer). (various references) | |
Turkish | barometre (barometric, barometrical, weatherglass). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | барометр. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | cái đo khí áp (air-gauge). (various references) | |
Welsh | baromedr, hinfynegydd. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | baros. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "barometer": barometers. (additional references) | |
| |
"Barometer" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: balometer, barameter, baromiter, berometer, biomatter, borometer, Brammeier, Hazometer. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "barometer" (pronounced berÄ"muter) |
| 6 | -er Ä" m u t er | accelerometer, interferometer. |
| 5 | -Ä" m u t er | anemometer, densitometer, fluorometer, goniometer, hydrometer, hygrometer, kilometer, magnetometer, micrometer, odometer, photometer, spectrometer, speedometer, tensiometer, thermometer. |
| 4 | -m u t er | altimeter, diameter, estimator, parameter, perimeter, polarimeter. |
| 3 | -u t er | editor, elater, Amphitheater, arbiter, auditor, capacitor, catheter, comparator, competitor, conservator, conspirator, contributor, creditor, depositor, distributor, executor, exhibitor, inheritor, inhibitor, inquisitor, interlocutor, interpreter, janitor, marketer, monitor, orator, orbiter, picketer, predator, progenitor, proprietor, quieter, rioter, Sen, senator, sequitur, solicitor, telemarketer, Theater, theatre, trumpeter, visitor. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-e-e-m-o-r-r-t" | |
-2 letters: aborter, bromate, rebater, remoter, taborer. | |
-3 letters: aerobe, ambeer, barret, barter, bearer, beater, berate, boater, borate, emoter, meteor, mortar, reamer, rebate, rebato, rebore, remate, remora, remote, reteam, retear, retore, roamer, tearer, termer, termor, terrae, tremor. | |
-4 letters: abort, amber, ameer, amort, arbor, arete, armer, armet, armor, barer, barre, beret, berme, boart, borer, bream, brome, eater. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-e-e-m-o-r-r-t" | |
+1 letter: barometers. | |
+2 letters: barometries. | |
+3 letters: troublemaker. | |
+4 letters: troublemakers. | |
+5 letters: extraembryonic, thermoformable. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Abbreviations 14. Acronyms 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
