Definition of pendulum in English English dictionary
A body suspended from a fixed support so that it swings freely back and forth under the influence of gravity, commonly used to regulate various devices such as clocks
a weight hung on a rod, serving by its oscillation to regulate the rate of a clock
A body with some sort of string (or rigid rod) with weight on other end moving freely to and fro and a fixed pivot point on the other end
To swing or fall sideways on a rope Big wall climbers sometimes use pendulums intentionally to reach either distant anchors or a different crack system (e g The Big Swing on The Nose, El Capitan) More often, however, a pendulum results from a fall on a traverse where there is inadequate protection in place
You can use the idea of a pendulum and the way it swings regularly as a way of talking about regular changes in a situation or in people's opinions. The political pendulum has swung in favour of the liberals. Body suspended from a fixed point so that it can swing back and forth under the influence of gravity. A simple pendulum consists of a bob (weight) suspended at the end of a string. The periodic motion of a pendulum is constant, but can be made longer or shorter by increasing or decreasing the length of the string. A change in the mass of the bob alone does not affect the period. Because of their constancy, pendulums were long used to regulate the movement of clocks. Other, special kinds of pendulums are used to measure the value of g, the acceleration due to gravity, and to show that the earth rotates on its axis (see Foucault pendulum)
a pendulum on a long wire, free to move in any direction; the plane of its motion appears to turn (clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere) as the world turns beneath it
Any pendulum having a period equal to that of a hypothetical pendulum whose length is equal to the Earth's radius (84.4 minutes); its arm will remain locally vertical when the pivot is moved and is therefore the basis of navigational instruments
A simple pendulum suspended from a long wire and set into motion along a meridian. The plane of motion appears to turn clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, demonstrating the axial rotation of the earth. Large pendulum that is free to swing in any direction. As it swings back and forth, the earth rotates beneath it, so its perpendicular plane of swing rotates in relation to the earth's surface. Devised by J.-B.-L. Foucault in 1851, it provided the first laboratory demonstration that the earth spins on its axis. A Foucault pendulum always rotates clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere (a consequence of the Coriolis force). The rate of rotation depends on the latitude, becoming slower as the pendulum is placed closer to the equator; at the equator, a Foucault pendulum does not rotate