ABACUS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Abacus

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

Listen

noun

Abacus n. (pl. E. abacuses; L. abaci)

A table or tray strewn with sand, anciently used for drawing, calculating, etc. (Obs.)

A calculating table or frame; an instrument for performing arithmetical calculations by balls sliding on wires, or counters in grooves, the lowest line representing units, the second line, tens, etc. It is still employed in China.

(Arch.)

(a)

The uppermost member or division of the capital of a column, immediately under the architrave. See Column.

(b)

A tablet, panel, or compartment in ornamented or mosaic work.

A board, tray, or table, divided into perforated compartments, for holding cups, bottles, or the like; a kind of cupboard, buffet, or sideboard.

Abacus harmonicus (Mus.), an ancient diagram showing the structure and disposition of the keys of an instrument.

See images of 'Abacus'

Etymology of 'Abacus'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Abacus" Quotes from Famous Books

... and simplest form of calculating apparatus was that employed by the schoolboys of ancient Greece, called the Abacus; consisting of a smooth board with a narrow rim, on which they were taught to compute by means of progressive rows of pebbles, bits of bone or ivory, or pieces of silver coin, used as counters. The same board, strewn over with sand, was used for teaching the rudiments of writing ...

— Industrial Biography - Iron Workers and Tool Makers • Samuel Smiles

Words linked to "Abacus" : calculating machine, tablet, calculator