Bascule
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A counterbalanced structure having one end that rises as the other lowers.
"In the late eighties and early nineties several new types of movable spans were advocated, including the pull-back draw, the jackknife span, the bob-tail swing, the horizontal-folding draw, the shearpole draw, the gyratory lift, the transbordeur, the double-cantilever swing, several types of bascule, and the vertical lift."
- 2 a structure or device in which one end is counterbalanced by the other (on the principle of the seesaw) wordnet
- 3 The portion of a breech-loading firearm that pivots open in order to allow access to the chamber.
"A device for coupling and releasing the trigger mechanism in a bascule of a gun"
Example
More examples"In the late eighties and early nineties several new types of movable spans were advocated, including the pull-back draw, the jackknife span, the bob-tail swing, the horizontal-folding draw, the shearpole draw, the gyratory lift, the transbordeur, the double-cantilever swing, several types of bascule, and the vertical lift."
Etymology
From French bascule.
Related phrases
More for "bascule"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.