See waywiser in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
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"1": "de",
"2": "Wegweiser",
"t": "a waymark, a guide"
},
"expansion": "German Wegweiser (“a waymark, a guide”)",
"name": "cog"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Compare German Wegweiser (“a waymark, a guide”), from Weg (“way”) + weisen (“to show, direct”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "waywisers",
"tags": [
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"pos": "noun",
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{
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1656, John Evelyn, Diary:",
"text": "I went to see Colonel Blount, who showed me the application of the \"Waywiser\" to a coach, exactly measuring the miles and showing them by an index as we went along.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1902, Alice Morse Earle, Sun Dials and Roses of Yesterday:",
"text": "The Emperor Rudolphus II had a curious waywiser or odometer which is attributed to Schissler.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2009, Wolfram Dolz, “The Waywisers of Elector Augustus of Saxony and Their New Use in the Survey of Saxon Postal Roads”, in European Collections of Scientific Instruments, 1550-1750, page 44:",
"text": "Therefore, Elector Augustus did all he could to promote the development of mechanical waywisers that would be able to do this work automatically.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An instrument for measuring distance travelled, such as an odometer, pedometer, perambulator, etc."
],
"id": "en-waywiser-en-noun-P8COlJ8L",
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1832, Thomas Forster, Annals of Some Remarkable Aërial and Alpine Voyages:",
"text": "Not being accustomed to this cruciform movement, I was not able, by the waywiser, to determine the real direction of the balloon, and on this account M. Robertson suffered to escape a considerable quantity of gas; on which we again fell till the barometer stood at 29 inches, about 50 minutes past seven.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1859, Frederick Robert Augustus Glover, The Polymeter, Or Quintant:",
"text": "THE Waywiser is an instrument whereby a man may steer himself where there is no path, or underground, in a mine; or find his way if he have lost it.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2002, Stephen Inwood, The Man Who Knew Too Much:",
"text": "The purpose of the waywiser was to enable a navigator to keep a track of a ship's location by measuring and recording the speed and direction of its journey.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An instrument for determining direction (and possibly other aspects of one's travel as well)."
],
"id": "en-waywiser-en-noun-4-5JmWng",
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1931, Justice of the Peace and Local Government Review, page 461:",
"text": "We have not sought to make a treatise, but only to set up a waywiser or signpost to show the road the law is taking .",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1974, Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, page xxxiii:",
"text": "In previous volumes we have often given a few words of help to the prospective reader, intended as a sort of waywiser to guide him through those pages not always possible to lighten by some memorable illustration .",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2021, Shane Chalmers, Sundhya Pahuja, Routledge Handbook of International Law and the Humanities:",
"text": "This is the research question. This is the waywiser.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A guide; A means of determining the direction in which to proceed."
],
"id": "en-waywiser-en-noun-v5-O9kl2",
"links": [
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"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) A guide; A means of determining the direction in which to proceed."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
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}
],
"sounds": [
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"ipa": "/ˈweɪˌwaɪ.zɚ/"
}
],
"word": "waywiser"
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"t": "a waymark, a guide"
},
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"name": "cog"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Compare German Wegweiser (“a waymark, a guide”), from Weg (“way”) + weisen (“to show, direct”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "waywisers",
"tags": [
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{
"ref": "1656, John Evelyn, Diary:",
"text": "I went to see Colonel Blount, who showed me the application of the \"Waywiser\" to a coach, exactly measuring the miles and showing them by an index as we went along.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1902, Alice Morse Earle, Sun Dials and Roses of Yesterday:",
"text": "The Emperor Rudolphus II had a curious waywiser or odometer which is attributed to Schissler.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2009, Wolfram Dolz, “The Waywisers of Elector Augustus of Saxony and Their New Use in the Survey of Saxon Postal Roads”, in European Collections of Scientific Instruments, 1550-1750, page 44:",
"text": "Therefore, Elector Augustus did all he could to promote the development of mechanical waywisers that would be able to do this work automatically.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An instrument for measuring distance travelled, such as an odometer, pedometer, perambulator, etc."
],
"links": [
[
"instrument",
"instrument"
],
[
"distance",
"distance"
],
[
"odometer",
"odometer"
],
[
"pedometer",
"pedometer"
],
[
"perambulator",
"perambulator"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
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],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1832, Thomas Forster, Annals of Some Remarkable Aërial and Alpine Voyages:",
"text": "Not being accustomed to this cruciform movement, I was not able, by the waywiser, to determine the real direction of the balloon, and on this account M. Robertson suffered to escape a considerable quantity of gas; on which we again fell till the barometer stood at 29 inches, about 50 minutes past seven.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1859, Frederick Robert Augustus Glover, The Polymeter, Or Quintant:",
"text": "THE Waywiser is an instrument whereby a man may steer himself where there is no path, or underground, in a mine; or find his way if he have lost it.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2002, Stephen Inwood, The Man Who Knew Too Much:",
"text": "The purpose of the waywiser was to enable a navigator to keep a track of a ship's location by measuring and recording the speed and direction of its journey.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An instrument for determining direction (and possibly other aspects of one's travel as well)."
],
"links": [
[
"instrument",
"instrument"
],
[
"direction",
"direction"
]
]
},
{
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],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1931, Justice of the Peace and Local Government Review, page 461:",
"text": "We have not sought to make a treatise, but only to set up a waywiser or signpost to show the road the law is taking .",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1974, Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, page xxxiii:",
"text": "In previous volumes we have often given a few words of help to the prospective reader, intended as a sort of waywiser to guide him through those pages not always possible to lighten by some memorable illustration .",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2021, Shane Chalmers, Sundhya Pahuja, Routledge Handbook of International Law and the Humanities:",
"text": "This is the research question. This is the waywiser.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A guide; A means of determining the direction in which to proceed."
],
"links": [
[
"guide",
"guide"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) A guide; A means of determining the direction in which to proceed."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈweɪˌwaɪ.zɚ/"
}
],
"word": "waywiser"
}
Download raw JSONL data for waywiser meaning in English (4.0kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-02-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (05fdf6b and 9dbd323). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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