camber

See also: Camber

English

WOTD – 8 January 2009

Alternative forms

• cambre (chiefly obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French cambre (“bent”), from Latin camurum, from camur (“arched”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkæm.bə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkæm.bɚ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

camber (uncountable)

1. A slight convexity, arching or curvature of a surface of a road, beam, roof, ship's deck etc., so that liquids will flow off the sides.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 1, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     From end to end, just behind the houses, ran the broad gravel walk, with its emphatic camber and its metal-edged gutters where a child's ball would come to rest and the first few plane leaves, dusty but still green, were already falling, since the summer had been so hot and rainless all through.

   • 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 443:

     The track was stony with a grassy camber up the middle.

2. The slope of a curved road created to minimize the effect of centrifugal force.

   Synonym: crossfall

   • 1952, Norman Lewis, Golden Earth:

     Again we were stricken of our palsy, slowed down, re-accelerated, and there, at last, were the few huts of a hamlet, with the lorry, lying at an angle in the road's camber, outside a tea-shop.

   • 2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 173:

     Even a small camber one way caused the whole outfit to list alarmingly.

3. (architecture) An upward concavity in the underside of a beam, girder, or lintel; also, a slight upward concavity in a straight arch.
4. (automotive) The alignment on the roll axis of the wheels of a road vehicle, where positive camber signifies that the wheels are closer together at the bottom than the top.
5. (aviation) The curvature of an airfoil.
6. (nautical) A small enclosed dock in which timber for masts (etc.) is kept to weather.

Derived terms

• camber angle
• camber arch
• camber beam
• camber-keeled

 

Translations

slight convexity of a surface

• Bulgarian: изпъкналост (bg) f (izpǎknalost)
• Czech: sklon (cs) m
• Dutch: tonrondte (nl) f
• Finnish: kaltevuus (fi)
• Malay: kamber
• Polish: wypukłość (pl) f
• Russian: вы́пуклость (ru) f (výpuklostʹ)
• Spanish: combadura f

slope of a curved road

• Bulgarian: вираж m (viraž)
• Czech: sklon (cs) m
• Finnish: kaltevuus (fi)
• Polish: wygięcie (pl) n
• Spanish: peralte (es) f
• Swedish: krökning (sv) c

alignment of wheels

• Finnish: sivukallistuma, pystykallistuma
• French: carrossage (fr) m
• German: Radsturz (de) m, Sturz (de) m
• Spanish: inclinación (es) f
• Swedish: hjullutning c

curvature of an airfoil

• Finnish: kaarevuus (fi)
• Indonesian: kamber (id)
• Swedish: rundning (sv) c

nautical: small enclosed dock for mast timber

• Italian: bolzone (it) m

Verb

camber (third-person singular simple present cambers, present participle cambering, simple past and past participle cambered)

1. To curve upwards in the middle.
2. To adjust the camber of the wheels of a vehicle.

   Because he cambered the tires too much, he had less control on the turns.

Derived terms

• recamber

 

Translations

to curve upwards

• Bulgarian: издувам се (izduvam se)
• Finnish: kaareutua (fi)
• Spanish: combar (es)

to adjust the camber of the wheels

• Finnish: kallistaa (fi)

Anagrams

• Cambre, cambre, cambré, cembra