gimbal
/ˈd͡ʒɪmbəl/ noun, verb
Forms gimbals gimbaling gimballing gimbaled gimballed
- noun A device for suspending something, such as a ship's compass, so that it will remain level when its support is tipped.
- verb (transitive) To suspend using a gimbal or gimbals.
- verb (transitive, aerospace) To move a reaction engine about on a gimbal so as to obtain pitching and yawing correction moments.
- verb (intransitive) To swivel, move on an axis.
Etymology
Alteration of gemel, from Old French gemel, jumel (“twin”) (French jumeau), from Latin gemellus.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A contrivance for permitting a body to incline freely in all directions, or for suspending anything, as a barometer, ship's compass, chronometer, etc., so that it will remain plumb, or level, when its support is tipped, as by the rolling of a ship. It consists of a ring in which the body can turn on an axis through a diameter of the ring, while the ring itself is so pivoted to its support that it can turn about a diameter at right angles to the first. Gimbal joint (Mach.), a universal joint embodying the principle of the gimbal.
Etymology [See Gimmal, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gimbal”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details