Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Fulcrum
Ful′crum
,Noun.
pl. L.
Fulcra
(#)
, E. Fulcrums
(#)
. [L., bedpost, fr.
fulcire
to prop.] 1.
A prop or support.
2.
(Mech.)
That by which a lever is sustained, or about which it turns in lifting or moving a body.
3.
(Bot.)
An accessory organ such as a tendril, stipule, spine, and the like.
[R.]
Gray.
4.
(Zool.)
(a)
The horny inferior surface of the lingua of certain insects.
(b)
One of the small, spiniform scales found on the front edge of the dorsal and caudal fins of many ganoid fishes.
5.
(Anat.)
The connective tissue supporting the framework of the retina of the eye.
Webster 1828 Edition
Fulcrum
FUL'CRUM
,Definition 2024
Fulcrum
fulcrum
fulcrum
See also: Fulcrum
English
The triangle is the fulcrum.
Noun
fulcrum (plural fulcrums or fulcra)
- (mechanics) The support about which a lever pivots.
- It is possible to flick food across the table using your fork as a lever and your finger as a fulcrum.
- 2010, John Allison, Bad Machinery
- MILDRED: Archimedes said give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I will move the world.
- CHARLOTTE: Yeah she said that twaddle eight or nine times.
- 2012 March 1, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 112-3:
- A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.
- (figuratively) A crux or pivot; a central point.
- 2006, Rebecca Langlands, Sexual Morality in Ancient Rome (page 119)
- By this point the fulcrum of concern is the stuprum of men upon men, described as more prevalent than that upon women.
- 2006, Rebecca Langlands, Sexual Morality in Ancient Rome (page 119)
Translations
support about which a lever pivots
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Latin
Etymology
From fulciō.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈful.krum/
Noun
fulcrum n (genitive fulcrī); second declension
Inflection
Second declension.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | fulcrum | fulcra |
| genitive | fulcrī | fulcrōrum |
| dative | fulcrō | fulcrīs |
| accusative | fulcrum | fulcra |
| ablative | fulcrō | fulcrīs |
| vocative | fulcrum | fulcra |
Descendants
References
- fulcrum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- fulcrum in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “fulcrum”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
- fulcrum in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin