ABACUS • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Abacus

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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.

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Etymology of 'Abacus'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Abacus" Quotes from Famous Books

... and this led to the substitution of wooden balls on wires, and other improvements through experience, until the arithmeticon, hereafter described, was fully formed. It having been found a useful instrument, the credit of contriving it has been impugned, by liking it to the Roman Abacus and Chinese Swanpan; but were those instruments like in structure, or designed especially to teach the multiplication table? if not, they are no more similar than "a hawk to a hand-saw." The former I have never seen, and the first time I saw one of the Chinese ...

— The Infant System - For Developing the Intellectual and Moral Powers of all Children, - from One to Seven years of Age • Samuel Wilderspin

Words linked to "Abacus" : calculating machine