bascule

[ bas-kyool ]

nounCivil Engineering.
  1. a device operating like a balance or seesaw, especially an arrangement of a movable bridge (bascule bridge ) by which the rising floor or section is counterbalanced by a weight.

Origin of bascule

1
First recorded in 1670–80; from French: name for a number of seesawlike mechanical devices, Middle French bacule, noun derivative of baculer “to strike on the buttocks” (probably originally, “to land on one's buttocks”), equivalent to bas “down” + -culer, verbal derivative of cul “rump, buttocks”; -s- by false analysis as bas(se) adjective + cule taken as a feminine noun; see base2, culet

Words Nearby bascule

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How to use bascule in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for bascule

bascule

/ (ˈbæskjuːl) /


noun
  1. Also called: balance bridge, counterpoise bridge a bridge with a movable section hinged about a horizontal axis and counterbalanced by a weight: Compare drawbridge

  2. a movable roadway forming part of such a bridge: Tower Bridge has two bascules

Origin of bascule

1
C17: from French: seesaw, from bas low + cul rump; see base ², culet

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012