Gunter's scale

English

Etymology

A drawing of a Gunter’s scale (right, marked “Fig. 35”).

From Gunter +‎ -'s +‎ scale, from the surname of its inventor, the English clergyman, geometer, and mathematician Edmund Gunter (1581–1628).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɡʌntəz ˈskeɪl/, /ˌɡʊn-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɡʌntɚz ˈskeɪl/, [-ɾɚz-]
• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Hyphenation: Gun‧ter's scale

Noun

Gunter's scale (plural Gunter's scales)

1. A wooden rule, two feet long, on one side of which is marked scales of equal parts, of chords, sines, tangents, rhombs, etc., and on the other side scales of logarithms of these various parts, by means of which many problems in navigation and surveying may be solved mechanically, using only divides.

   Synonym: Gunter's rule

Related terms

• Gunter's chain
• Gunter's line
• Gunter's proportion
• Gunter's quadrant
• Gunter's rule

Notes

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “Gunter's scale”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)