Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A free-diving deep-sea vessel consisting of a large flotation hull with a crewed observation capsule attached to its underside, usually capable of reaching full ocean depths.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A self-propelled deep-sea diving submersible for exploring the ocean depths, consisting of a crew cabin similar to a bathysphere suspended below a float filled with a buoyant liquid such as petrol

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun navigable deep diving vessel for underwater exploration

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[bathy– + Greek skaphos, boat.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowing from French, from Ancient Greek βαθύς (bathus, "deep") + σκάφη (skaphē, "little ship"). Coined in 1940s by Auguste Piccard, the inventor of the bathyscaphe.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word bathyscaphe.

Examples

  • Yes, that one's mine, and I think I should get extra points for using the word bathyscaphe in a joke.

    Archive 2008-09-01 Michael Turton 2008

  • But it IS self-propelled after a fashion...thus "bathyscaphe" is probably more accurate.

    The BSNYC Absentee Art Exhibition (Part III) BikeSnobNYC 2008

  • The planned dive would be the latest milestone for China in a high-stakes technological race once dominated by the U.S., which in 1960 sent two men to the bottom of the Mariana Trench—at 11,033 meters the deepest point in the world's oceans—in the now-retired Trieste bathyscaphe.

    China to Dive for Buried Treasures Jeremy Page 2011

  • The Voyage of the TriesteOn Jan. 23,1960, U.S. Navy Lt. Don Walsh and Swiss explorer Jacques Piccard made the only voyage to the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the bathyscaphe Trieste, shattering by four kilometers the depth record they had set just 15 days before.

    Into The Challenger 2008

  • That said, I'm planting the Cone of Smugness firmly on my head to point out two recent spelling errors -- bathyscape should be bathyscaphe, and back when you were talking about randonneurs, you misspelled pretension with a t in the middle instead of an s.

    Worst of Craigslist: Delicious, Savory Bike Love BikeSnobNYC 2008

  • But there was no getting away from the fact that the bathyscaphe had been invented in Switzerland, and the long shadow of the Piccards still lay across the technology they had founded.

    The Ghost from the Grand Banks Clarke, Arthur C. 1990

  • But there was no getting away from the fact that the bathyscaphe had been invented in Switzerland, and the long shadow of the Piccards still lay across the technology they had founded.

    The Ghost from the Grand Banks Clarke, Arthur C. 1990

  • The Olympia was, in effect, a space-going bathyscaphe.

    Three Worlds To Conquer Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1964

  • The Olympia was, in effect, a space-going bathyscaphe.

    Three Worlds to Conquer Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1964

  • Vyland seemed more than content to leave the running of the bathyscaphe to me.

    Fear is the Key MacLean, Alistair 1961

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.