Pendules

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Objects that hang and swing freely, often used as timekeeping devices or decorative elements; mechanisms exhibiting a regular, oscillating motion due to gravity and inertia; instruments or items suspended so as to move back and forth in a steady rhythm
2. Items typically suspended from a fixed point, capable of regular swinging motion employed in clocks or scientific instruments; devices that oscillate under gravitational pull used for measuring time or demonstrating principles of motion; pendulum-like objects designed to move periodically about a pivot
3. Hanging apparatuses that swing with a consistent, rhythmic motion, frequently used in horology or scientific experiments; structures or tools that move in a controlled, periodic arc due to forces like gravity; suspended objects practicing oscillatory movement for observation or functional use

Etymology: "Pendules" is simply the plural of "pendule", so its history is that of the singular noun. English took "pendule" directly from French, where it appears in the phrase "horloge à pendule", a clock with a pendulum. The French noun itself comes from Latin "pendulus", meaning hanging or suspended, which derives from "pendere", to hang. The English noun "pendule" was borrowed from French, the same source that gave English many other terms for clocks and timekeeping. The word's sense has stayed close to its physical origin: an object hung so that it swings freely under gravity.

Synonyms: pendulums, weights, clocks