pocket calculator
1
2.1
- noun
- /ˈpɑkɪt ˈkælkjʊˌleɪtər/
:
calculadora de bolsillo
- When the girls get their check, out come the pocket calculators.
Well, I'd like to show you my dad's pocket calculator.
- Well, I'd like to show you my dad's pocket calculator.
Examples
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They use little pocket calculators.
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Other computers are pocket calculators by comparison.
Fiction book (1991) -
A tiny device, no bigger than a pocket calculator.
Fiction book (1997) -
The man in front of her spent his waiting time fooling with a fancy pocket calculator.
Fiction book (2001) -
The invention of the transistor brought about significant changes in electronic technology, such as transistor radios and pocket calculators.
Academic text (2012) -
Finally, using a series of formulas he read off a plastic wheel and a pocket calculator, he figured in room sizes, the average weight of common objects, the number of boxes required, and estimated the weight of their possessions and the cost of their move.
Fiction book (1994) -
Dad was smoking, brooding; tallying up figures on a pocket calculator and jotting them down on a notepad.
Fiction book (1997) -
Smartphones aren't merely there to make your high school geography teacher weep, just as pocket calculators made math teachers cry a generation ago.
Blog text (16) -
I pulled out my pocket calculator and did the math.
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In the theoretical examination, the students are allowed to use only pocket calculators.
Synonyms
81
1.3
A small electronic device for doing math like adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing
1
5.9
A machine for doing math, often mechanical or early electronic
A small electronic device you hold in your hand to do math
A very small handheld electronic device for doing simple math
How Portable
- Archaic
1
2.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning (a small calculator designed to be carried in a pocket) is directly and predictably composed from 'pocket' (small pouch in clothing) + 'calculator' (electronic device for calculations). This straightforward noun–noun compounding is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The compound pocket calculator comes from the idea of a small calculator that fits in your pocket. So it means 'a small electronic calculator you can carry in your pocket'.