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BASCULE

 - 2 dictionary results

bas⋅cule

  [bas-kyool]
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–noun Civil Engineering.
a device operating like a balance or seesaw, esp. an arrangement of a movable bridge (bascule bridge) by which the rising floor or section is counterbalanced by a weight.
Origin:
1670–80; F: name for a number of seesawlike mechanical devices, MF bacule, n. deriv. of baculer to strike on the buttocks (prob. orig., to land on one's buttocks), equiv. to bas down (see base 2 ) + -culer, v. deriv. of cul rump, buttocks (see culet ); -s- by false analysis as bas(se) adj. + cule taken as a fem. n.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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bas·cule   (bās'kyōōl)   
n.  A device or structure, such as a drawbridge, counterbalanced so that when one end is lowered the other is raised.

[French, seesaw : bas, low (from Medieval Latin bassus) + cul, bottom (from Latin cūlus, rump; see (s)keu- in Indo-European roots).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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