clepsydra
Noun
Meaning
A water clock; a contrivance for measuring time by the graduated flow of a liquid, as of water, through a small aperture. See Illust. in Appendix.
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The clepsydra was a common utensil and everyone who used it must have known, in some sense, that the invisible air could resist liquid.
Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 479. The inflow clepsydra with an indicator rod on a float had been known in China since the beginning of the Han Dynasty in 202 BC and had replaced the outflow type.
Events * 671 Emperor Tenji of Japan introduces a water clock ( clepsydra ) called Rokoku.
Tablets of squares and cubes, calculated from 1 to 60, have been found at Senkera, and a people acquainted with the sun-dial, the clepsydra, the lever and the pulley, must have had no mean knowledge of mechanics.
The cases were put by the litigants themselves in the form of an exchange of single speeches timed by a water clock or clepsydra, first prosecutor then defendant.
The explanation of a clepsydra or water clock was a popular topic in the Middle Ages.