pendulum watch
- noun
- /ˈpɛn.dʒə.ləm wɑtʃ/
- Archaic
:
reloj de péndulo
- Though the pendulum watch looked like it had a real pendulum, timekeeping was controlled by the balance wheel.
Examples
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The pendulum watch on display had an ornate, swinging fake pendulum under its glass.
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Collectors highly value a well-preserved pendulum watch from the 18th century.
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The pendulum watch was a marvel of its time.
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She inherited a beautiful pendulum watch from her grandmother.
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Collectors highly value a well-preserved pendulum watch from the 18th century.
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The pendulum watch on display had an ornate, swinging fake pendulum under its glass.
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Though the pendulum watch looked like it had a real pendulum, timekeeping was controlled by the balance wheel.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is compositionally built: a B1 learner who knows 'pendulum' (a swinging weight) and 'watch' (a timepiece) can infer it refers to a watch that has or features a pendulum. The specific historical or technical nuance (18th-century, decorative/non‑functioning) is specialized, but the core meaning is directly derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
Pendulum watch comes from 18th-century watches that showed a small, swinging pendulum under the glass of the watch as a decoration. People remembered the moving pendulum, so the name stuck even though the watch kept time with a small inner wheel and the pendulum was only 'for show'.
