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Archimedes   /ˌɑrkəmˈidiz/   Listen
noun
Archimedes  n.  (Paleon.) An extinct genus of Bryzoa characteristic of the subcarboniferous rocks. Its form is that of a screw.



proper noun
Archimedes  n.  Born at Syracuse about 287 b. c.: died at Syracuse, 212 b. c. The most celebrated geometrician of antiquity. He is said to have been a relative of King Hiero of Syracuse, to have traveled early in life in Egypt, and to have been the pupil of Conon the Samian at Alexandria. His most important services were rendered to pure geometry, but his popular fame rests chiefly on his application of mathematical theory to mechanics. He invented the water-screw, and discovered the principle of the lever. Concerning the latter the famous saying is attributed to him, "Give me where I may stand and I will move the world". By means of military engines which he invented he postponed the fall of Syracuse when besieged by Marcellus 214-212 b. c., whose fleet he is incorrectly said to have destroyed by mirrors reflecting the sun's rays. He detected the admixture of silver, and determined the proportions of the two metals, in a crown ordered by Hiero to be made of pure gold. The method of detecting the alloy, without destroying the crown, occurred to him as he stepped in the bath and observed the overflow caused by the displacement of the water. He ran home through the street naked crying heureka, "I have found it." He was killed at the capture of Syracuse by Marcellus.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Archimedes" Quotes from Famous Books



... scientific facts and mechanical principles which were known to Europeans at this time. More than one learned essay has been written to prove the mechanical indebtedness of the modern world to the ancient, particularly to the works of those mechanically minded Greeks: Archimedes, Aristotle, Ctesibius, and Hero of Alexandria. The Greeks employed the lever, the tackle, and the crane, the force-pump, and the suction-pump. They had discovered that steam could be mechanically applied, though they never made any practical use of steam. In common with other ancients ...
— The Age of Invention - A Chronicle of Mechanical Conquest, Book, 37 in The - Chronicles of America Series • Holland Thompson

... of Trespass—from the Calcutta Review. The writer of it, on reading in India this story of Omar's Grave, was reminded, he says, of Cicero's Account of finding Archimedes' Tomb at Syracuse, buried in grass and weeds. I think Thorwaldsen desired to have roses grow over him; a wish religiously fulfilled for him to the present day, I believe. However, to return ...
— Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam • Omar Khayyam

... curiosity, Tiffles, in the third place, took an office on Broadway, and put up a large sign inscribed in gilt capitals, "The Cosmopolitan Window Fastener Manufacturing Co." From this pou sto, Archimedes-like, he commenced to move the world of house owners. This he accomplished by the following manoeuvre: He caused double-leaded advertisements, under the head of special notices, to be inserted in all the papers, informing the public that it would ...
— Round the Block • John Bell Bouton

... the south, however, trying to gain the alliance of the king of Macedon, and stirring up Syracuse to revolt. Marcellus, who was consul for the third time, was sent to reduce the city, which made a famous defence, for it contained Archimedes, the greatest mathematician of his time, who devised wonderful machines for crushing the besiegers in unexpected ways; but at last Marcellus found a weak part of the walls and surprised the citizens. He had given orders that Archimedes should be saved, but a soldier broke into ...
— Young Folks' History of Rome • Charlotte Mary Yonge

... says,[1180]"I would like to see her a city of two, three, four millions of inhabitants, something fabulous, colossal, unknown down to our day, and its public establishments adequate to its population.... Archimedes proposed to lift the world if he could be allowed to place his lever; for myself, I would have changed it wherever I could have been allowed to exercise ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 5 (of 6) - The Modern Regime, Volume 1 (of 2)(Napoleon I.) • Hippolyte A. Taine


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