fulcrum
See also: Fulcrum
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin fulcrum (“bedpost, foot of a couch”), from fulciō (“prop up, support”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfʌlk.ɹəm/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. also IPA(key): /ˈfʊlk.ɹəm/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (AU): (file)
Noun
fulcrum (plural fulcrums or fulcra)
- (mechanics) The support about which a lever pivots.
- It is possible to flick food across the table using your fork as a lever and your finger as a fulcrum.
- 2010, John Allison, Bad Machinery
- MILDRED: Archimedes said give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I will move the world.
- CHARLOTTE: Yeah she said that twaddle eight or nine times.
- 2012 March, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 2, pages 112-3:
- A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.
- (figurative) A crux or pivot; a central point.
- 2006, Rebecca Langlands, Sexual Morality in Ancient Rome (page 119)
- By this point the fulcrum of concern is the stuprum of men upon men, described as more prevalent than that upon women.
- 2006, Rebecca Langlands, Sexual Morality in Ancient Rome (page 119)
Translations
support about which a lever pivots
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Latin
Etymology
From fulciō.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈful.krum/, [ˈfʊɫ̪krʊ̃ˑ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈful.krum/, [ˈfulkrum]
Noun
fulcrum n (genitive fulcrī); second declension
Declension
Second-declension noun (neuter).
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | fulcrum | fulcra |
Genitive | fulcrī | fulcrōrum |
Dative | fulcrō | fulcrīs |
Accusative | fulcrum | fulcra |
Ablative | fulcrō | fulcrīs |
Vocative | fulcrum | fulcra |
Descendants
References
- “fulcrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “fulcrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- fulcrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- “fulcrum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
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- English 2-syllable words
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- en:Mechanics
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- Latin 2-syllable words
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