bascule

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See also: basculé

English

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bascule
A bascule bridge
breech-loading firearm showing the bascule

Etymology

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From French bascule.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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bascule (plural bascules)

  1. A counterbalanced structure having one end that rises as the other lowers.
    • 1932, Journal of the Association of Chinese & American Engineers, page 10:
      In the late eighties and early nineties several new types of movable spans were advocated, including the pull-back draw, the jackknife span, the bob-tail swing, the horizontal-folding draw, the shearpole draw, the gyratory lift, the transbordeur, the double-cantilever swing, several types of bascule, and the vertical lift.
    • 1986, Jeffrey A. Hess, Historic Highway Bridges in Wisconsin, page 87:
      The study sample contains nine rolling-lift bascules of the type invented by Chicago engineer William Scherzer in 1893 , and refined by the engineering staff of the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company, also of Chicago.
    • 2009, w:Sherlock Holmes (2009 film), spoken by Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.):
      Look at those towering structures. It’s the first combination of bascule and suspension bridge ever attempted. Most innovative. [In reference to w:Tower Bridge.]
  2. (firearms) The portion of a breech-loading firearm that pivots open in order to allow access to the chamber.
    • 1997, Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office:
      A device for coupling and releasing the trigger mechanism in a bascule of a gun

Derived terms

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Anagrams

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Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French bascule.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌbɑsˈky.lə/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: bas‧cu‧le
  • Rhymes: -ylə

Noun

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bascule f (plural bascules)

  1. balance, balance scales
  2. counterweight

Derived terms

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French

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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bascule f (plural bascules)

  1. seesaw
  2. (electronics) flip-flop

Derived terms

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Verb

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bascule

  1. inflection of basculer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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Italian

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Noun

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bascule f

  1. plural of bascula

Spanish

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Verb

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bascule

  1. inflection of bascular:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative