DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Pen·du·lum n.; pl. Pendulums   A body so suspended from a fixed point as to swing freely to and fro by the alternate action of gravity and momentum.  It is used to regulate the movements of clockwork and other machinery.
 Note: ☞ The time of oscillation of a pendulum is independent of the arc of vibration, provided this arc be small.
 Ballistic pendulum. See under Ballistic.
 Compensation pendulum, a clock pendulum in which the effect of changes of temperature of the length of the rod is so counteracted, usually by the opposite expansion of differene metals, that the distance of the center of oscillation from the center of suspension remains invariable; as, the mercurial compensation pendulum, in which the expansion of the rod is compensated by the opposite expansion of mercury in a jar constituting the bob; the gridiron pendulum, in which compensation is effected by the opposite expansion of sets of rods of different metals.
 Compound pendulum, an ordinary pendulum; -- so called, as being made up of different parts, and contrasted with simple pendulum.
 Conical pendulum or Revolving pendulum, a weight connected by a rod with a fixed point; and revolving in a horizontal circle about the vertical from that point.
 Pendulum bob, the weight at the lower end of a pendulum.
 Pendulum level, a plumb level. See under Level.
 Pendulum wheel, the balance of a watch.
 Simple pendulum or Theoretical pendulum, an imaginary pendulum having no dimensions except length, and no weight except at the center of oscillation; in other words, a material point suspended by an ideal line.
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 Com·pen·sa·tion n.
 1. The act or principle of compensating.
 2. That which constitutes, or is regarded as, an equivalent; that which makes good the lack or variation of something else; that which compensates for loss or privation; amends; remuneration; recompense.
    The parliament which dissolved the monastic foundations . . . vouchsafed not a word toward securing the slightest compensation to the dispossessed owners.   --Hallam.
    No pecuniary compensation can possibly reward them.   --Burke.
 3. Law (a)The extinction of debts of which two persons are reciprocally debtors by the credits of which they are reciprocally creditors; the payment of a debt by a credit of equal amount; a set-off. --Bouvier. --Wharton. (b) A recompense or reward for some loss or service. (c) An equivalent stipulated for in contracts for the sale of real estate, in which it is customary to provide that errors in description, etc., shall not avoid, but shall be the subject of compensation.
 Compensation balance, or Compensated balance, a kind of balance wheel for a timepiece. The rim is usually made of two different metals having different expansibility under changes of temperature, so arranged as to counteract each other and preserve uniformity of movement.
 Compensation pendulum. See Pendulum.
 Syn: -- Recompense; reward; indemnification; consideration; requital; satisfaction; set-off.
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