tricorder
43
9.9
- noun
- /ˈtraɪˌkɔrdər/
- Specialized
:
tricorder
- Selar ran her tricorder over both Tanaka and Keiko, then ordered them taken to sickbay.
- scan with a tricorder
- detect with a tricorder
- tricorder readings
Examples
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I've already had Commander La Forge modify this tricorder with one of Data's actuation servos.
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Crusher watched the readings scroll across her tricorder with mounting excitement.
Fiction book (1992) -
The tricorder must be broken.
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You've been working on your dream tricorder as well.
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Even minimal scanning systems will have more range than a tricorder.
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We have analysed the Romulan's tricorder.
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"We were tracking the power surge, and the indicator on my tricorder pointed directly to this rock outcropping."
Fiction book (2001) -
Crusher activated her tricorder and scanned the cuts on his back.
Fiction book (1992) -
"Apparently not." Crusher shifted her tricorder to scan the next row, walking back toward Riker as she did.
Fiction book (1992) -
The scientist used a tricorder to analyze the mineral composition of the rocks on the alien planet.
Surface Forms
Morphology
tricorder = recorder (semi-transparent) = tri + corder
Formed from 'tri-' + a clipped form of 'recorder' so the parts suggest 'three' + 'recording', but the device's specialized scanning/analyzing function is not fully predictable from those parts.
Etymology
The word tricorder was made by joining tri- ('three') and recorder ('a device that records'), a name first used in science fiction for a small, handheld tool with three main jobs. So a tricorder is easy to remember as a portable machine that scans, records, and analyzes information.