Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
lantern wheel

lantern wheel

9.9
A small clock gear with round bars instead of teeth
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : rueda de linterna
  • The cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel distinguish it from other types of clock gears.

Examples

  • The old clock was repaired with a new lantern wheel to restore its function.

  • Horologists often prefer pinions, but the lantern wheel design is still found in many antique timepieces.

  • The lantern wheel is essential for this clock's mechanism.

  • Many lantern wheels are used in budget-friendly clocks.

  • The cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel distinguish it from other types of clock gears.

  • Horologists often prefer pinions, but the lantern wheel design is still found in many antique timepieces.

  • The old clock was repaired with a new lantern wheel to restore its function.

Synonyms

lantern pinion
vslantern wheel
  • Specialized
9.9

A small wheel used in clocks that has short metal bars instead of teeth

is the same mechanism presented as an alternate technical term

Surface Forms

lantern wheel singular
lantern wheels plural

Morphology

lantern + wheel

Even knowing 'lantern' and 'wheel', a B1 learner would most likely infer a wheel associated with a lantern or shaped like one, not a specific type of gear with cylindrical bars used in clocks. The phrase is a specialised horological term whose precise structural meaning is not predictable from its constituents, so it is effectively idiomatic/technical and opaque to learners.

Etymology

The noun lantern wheel may come from how the small wheel looks: instead of normal teeth it has straight bars like the frame of a little lantern, so the part looks like a tiny lantern made into a wheel. That's why the name came to mean 'a small gear with cylindrical bars used in clocks'.