Definitions

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

  • noun An instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure, used especially in weather forecasting.
  • noun Something that registers or responds to fluctuations; an indicator.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An instrument for measuring the weight or pressure of the atmosphere, invented by Evangelista Torricelli, an Italian mathematician and physicist, in 1643.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An instrument for determining the weight or pressure of the atmosphere, and hence for judging of the probable changes of weather, or for ascertaining the height of any ascent.
  • noun See Aneroid barometer, under Aneroid.
  • noun a barometer with tube contracted at bottom to prevent rapid oscillations of the mercury, and suspended in gimbals from an arm or support on shipboard.
  • noun a portable mercurial barometer with tripod support, and long scale, for measuring heights.
  • noun a barometer having a tube bent like a hook with the longer leg closed at the top. The height of the mercury in the longer leg shows the pressure of the atmosphere.
  • noun a barometer with recurved tube, and a float, from which a cord passes over a pulley and moves an index.

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

  • noun An instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure.
  • noun Anything used as a gauge or indicator.

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

  • noun an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek βάρος ("weight") +‎ -meter.

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