Meaning & use
astrolabe
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Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
A flat, hand-held metal instrument with a rotating pointer, used long ago to find the height of the sun or stars and so work out the time or one's position.
Grammar: Countable: a medieval astrolabe, two astrolabes.
Patterns
- use an astrolabe to do something
- an astrolabe for something
The museum displays an engraved brass astrolabe made in Persia in the tenth century.
Sailors once used an astrolabe to measure the angle of the sun above the horizon.
She learned to read the astrolabe's scales so she could tell the time from a single star.
Word forms
| plural | astrolabes |
|---|
Common combinations
- a brass astrolabe
- A brass astrolabe sat beside the old maps in the glass case.
- a medieval astrolabe
- A medieval astrolabe could do the work of several later tools.
- use an astrolabe
- Scholars would use an astrolabe to find the hour of prayer.
- a mariner's astrolabe
- A mariner's astrolabe was heavy so that it hung steady on a rolling ship.
- read an astrolabe
- It takes practice to read an astrolabe correctly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sextant
- A sextant is a later navigation tool that measures angles with mirrors and is more precise, whereas an astrolabe is an older disc-shaped device.
- quadrant
- A quadrant is a simpler quarter-circle instrument for measuring angles, while an astrolabe also models the sky and tells time.
- armillary sphere
- An armillary sphere is a model of the heavens built from rings, used for teaching and display rather than for taking measurements outdoors.
Word family
- astrolabic adjective
- relating to an astrolabe, a rare word
- astronomy noun
- the scientific study of stars and planets, the field the astrolabe served
- astrolabist noun
- a maker or user of astrolabes, very rare
Commonly confused: astrolabe or astrologer?
astrolabe vs astrologer
An astrologer claims to read human fortunes from the stars, while an astrolabe is a physical tool used by astronomers and navigators.
Practice
Which job was an astrolabe most useful for?
Choose one answer.
An astrolabe measures the angle of celestial bodies. Predicting fortunes belongs to astrology, which is why that option is tempting but wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “astrolabe”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.