ˈsilə̇ndə(r) noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle French or Latin; Middle French cylindre, from Latin cylindrus, from Greek kylindros, from kylindein to roll; akin to Old English sceol wry, squinting, Old High German scelah, Old Norse skjalgr wry, squinting, Latin scelus crime, wickedness, Greek skolios curved, crooked, skelos leg, Albanian tshalë lame; basic meaning: turning, bending
1. mathematics
a. : the surface traced by any straight line moving parallel to a fixed straight line and intersecting a fixed curve
b. : the space bounded by any such surface and two parallel planes cutting all the elements — see volume table
2. : a cylindrical body: as
a.
(1) : the turning chambered breech of a revolver
(2) : one type of choke boring — see choke II 3
b.
(1) : a cylindrical chamber in an engine in which a piston is impelled by the pressure or expansive force of the working fluid
(2) : the analogous though not cylindrical part in certain abnormal types of engines
c. : a chamber in a pump from which the piston expels the fluid
d. : the rapidly rotating spiked drum of a threshing machine
e.
(1) : plate cylinder
(2) : impression cylinder
(3) : blanket cylinder
f. : cylinder seal
g. : a cylindrical clay object inscribed with cuneiform inscriptions
h. : a typewriter platen
i. : a cylindrical record of a phonograph or dictating machine
j. : the portion of a cylinder lock that contains the tumblers and keyhole
3. : a pivoted hollow steel shell upon which the balance of a watch is mounted and which is cut away to permit the passage of the rim of the escape wheel
4. : the square prism carrying the cards to the needles in a jacquard loom