[f. CLINO- + μέτρον measure.] A measurer of slopes and elevations.
1. An instrument for measuring the dip of mineral strata or for determining the slope of cuttings, embankments, etc.; also for taking altitudes.
1811. Edin. Rev., XIX. 222. The compass for measuring the bearings of the strata, and the clinometer for estimating their dip.
1869. Phillips, Vesuvius, viii. 240, note. By an observation with our clinometer the height seemed greater.
1879. Le Conte, Elem. Geol., 176. A clinometer…. The most convenient form is a pocket compass containing a pendulum to indicate the angle of dip.
2. Applied to various other instruments for measuring (a.) the angle of elevation of a rifle; (b.) the roll of a ship at sea; also (c.) ‘a carpenter’s tool for levelling up sills and other horizontal framing-timbers’ (Knight, Dict. Mech.).
1864. Daily Tel., 20 Aug., 5/5. Competitors may use the clinometer to take the angle of elevation…. The clinometer may also be used to re-adjust the angle of elevation during trial.
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 18–9. The clinometer … having registered a roll of 50° to port and 40° to starboard on the night of the storm, judiciously declined to register any more.
Clinometric a. = next.
