Abacus

Quick meaning: Abacus is a noun meaning (architecture) The uppermost portion of the capital of a column immediately under the architrave, in some cases a flat oblong or square slab, in others more decorated.

Meaning

(architecture) The uppermost portion of the capital of a column immediately under the architrave, in some cases a flat oblong or square slab, in others more decorated.

More Meanings

1. (Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, historical) A board, tray, or table, divided into perforated compartments for holding bottles, cups, or the like; a kind of buffet, cupboard, or sideboard.
2. A device used for performing arithmetical calculations; (rare) a table on which loose counters are placed, or (more commonly) an instrument with beads sliding on rods, or counters in grooves, with one row of beads or counters representing units, the next tens, etc.
3. (historical, obsolete) A table or tray scattered with sand which was used for calculating or drawing.

Example Sentences

I’ve heard merchants still use an abacus for adding things up in China.

Before Pythagoras it was necessary to see the thing before counting it, like children who learn on abacuses, with balls sliding along rods: children learn to add and subtract by sliding stones.

The computer is but another vehicle to employ in helping people learn, a cousin of books, films, blackboards, chalk, gerbils, abacuses. Like each of these devices, it can be well used or misused.

Take another look at the abacus to see how useful it is. Each row represents a successively higher counting group, or register, by 10 times. Thus, with only 6 rows you can count to one million (actually, up to 999,999, which is 1 short of one million).

Word Forms

• abaci
• abacuses

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include shield, chart, calculation, sandbin, abbozzo, scantle.

Related Dictionary Tools