levern.1
/ˈliːvə/, U.S. /ˈlɛvər/, /ˈlivər/ 1. figurative.1831 Society 1 230 Jealousy is a potent lever for quickening love.1855 J. L. Motley Rise Dutch Republic (1861) II. 433 The new religion was only a lever by which a few artful demagogues had attempted to overthrow the King's authority.† b. gen. A bar, pole, or rod. Obsolete.
a. A bar of iron or wood serving to ‘prize up’ or dislodge from its position some heavy or firmly fixed object; a crowbar, handspike, or the like.In modern use, this sense is more or less coloured by the scientific sense 2, which is alone formally recognized by Johnson.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > lever or crowbar > [noun]
lever1297
speke1366
crowa1400
gavelock1497
prisea1500
handspoke1513
porter1538
sway1545
handspike1559
heaver1598
coleweigh1600
handspeek1644
forcer1649
ringer1650
ripping-chisel1659
pinch1685
crow-spike1692
Betty1700
wringer1703
crowbar1748
spike1771
pry1803
jemmy1811
crow-iron1817
dog1825
pinchbar1837
jimmy1848
stick1848
pry bar1872
peiser1873
nail bar1929
cane1930
1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) 3103 Hii..cables vette ynowe & laddren, & leuours & uaste ssoue & drowe.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. xxvii. 1 In that dai visiten shal the Lord..vp on leuyathan, an eddere, a leuour [L. serpentem vectem].
a1400 Coer de L. 1935 Ever men bare them up with levours.
1433 J. Lydgate Legend St. Edmund iii. 1202 Oon with a leuour to leffte the doore on barre.
1481 W. Caxton tr. Siege & Conqueste Jerusalem (1893) clxxx. 265 Other had grete leuers and plente of ropes and Cordes.
1553 T. Wilson Arte Rhetorique (1580) 223 An other speakes, as though his woordes had neede to bee heaved out with leavers.
1642 T. Fuller Holy State ii. xxiii. 147 Surely so heavy a log needed more levers then one.
1699 J. Potter Archæologiæ Græcæ II. iii. xx. 161 The heavy Ship into the Sea they thrust With Leavers.
1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. i. 24 As Carriages and Leavers and Scaffolds are in Architecture.
1813 W. Scott Rokeby i. v. 8 Then clanking chains and levers tell, That o'er the moat the draw-bridge fell.
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Lewer, lower, a lever.
1881 S. H. Hodgson Outcast Ess. 402 The lever, the bright torch, the bow, For laying doors and warders low.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > tool > types of tools generally > [noun] > in form of bar, pole, rod, etc.
stingc725
stakec893
sowelc900
tree971
rungOE
shaftc1000
staffc1000
stockc1000
poleOE
spritOE
luga1250
lever1297
stanga1300
perchc1300
raftc1330
sheltbeam1336
stower1371
palea1382
spar1388
spire1392
perk1396
ragged staff1397
peela1400
slot1399
plantc1400
heck-stower1401
sparkin1408
cammockc1425
sallow stakec1440
spoke1467
perk treec1480
yard1480
bode1483
spit1485
bolm1513
gada1535
ruttock1542
stob1550
blade1558
wattle1570
bamboo1598
loggat1600
barling1611
sparret1632
picket1687
tringle1706
sprund1736
lug-pole1773
polting lug1789
baton1801
stuckin1809
rack-pin1821
picket-pin1844
I-iron1874
pricker1875
stag1881
podger1888
window pole1888
verge1897
sallow pole1898
lat1899
swizzle-stick1962
1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) 2680 Eldol erl of gloucestre..Hente an stronge leuour.
c1320 Sir Beues 1861 (MS. A) He tok a leuour in is hond, And forth to the gate he wond.
c1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 2386 The geant..bar a levor of yren ful strang.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) lxxix. sig. Uv Gourtnat helde in bothe hys handes a gret leuer, wherwith he layd on amonge those knyghtes.
1609 Bible (Douay) I. Num. xiii. 24 They cutte of a branch with the grapes therof, which two men carried upon a leaver.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 504 Fish-shells..so great that two strong men with a leaver can scarse draw one of them after them.
2. Mechanics. Adopted as the name for that type of ‘simple machine’ which is exemplified in the ‘lever’ (sense 1). It consists of a rigid structure of any shape (a straight bar being the normal form), fixed at one point called the fulcrum, and acted on at two other points by two forces, tending to cause it to rotate in opposite directions round the fulcrum.The force which is regarded as intended to be resisted by the use of the lever is called the weight, and the force which is applied for this purpose is called the power. Levers are said to be of the first, second, or third kind or order according as the fulcrum, the weight, or the power is in the midmost position of the three.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > lever > [noun]
swape1492
lever1648
vectis1648
sweep1657
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > parts which provide power > [noun] > mechanical powers > one of
screw1570
lever1648
wedge1648
peritrochium1704
wheel and axle (also axis)1773
1648 Bp. J. Wilkins Math. Magick i. iv. 20 The second Mechanical faculty is the Lever.
1723 J. Clarke tr. Rohault's Syst. Nat. Philos. I. i. x. 43 Two Bodies hung at the Ends of a Ballance or Leaver.
1803 J. Wood Princ. Mech. (ed. 3) iv. 50 The Lever is an inflexible rod, moveable upon a point which is called the fulcrum.
1812 J. Playfair Outl. Nat. Philos. I. 112 Let A and B be two given weights, applied to the ends of the arms of a lever.
1829 Nat. Philos. (Libr. Useful Knowl.) I. Mechanics ii. iii. §13. 6 If the power be in the middle, it is a lever of the third kind.
1837 W. Whewell Hist. Inductive Sci. I. 241 Archimedes had established the doctrine of the lever.
1841 T. R. Jones Gen. Outl. Animal Kingdom xi. 168 The levers attached to the jaws are five long and slender processes.
1851 W. B. Carpenter Man. Physiol. (ed. 2) 172 The hard envelopes..serve, like the bones of the Vertebrata, as levers by which the motor powers of the muscles are more advantageously employed.
3. Special applications.
a. A roof-beam of naturally curved timber, forming one of the couples or principals supporting the roof (obsolete exc. dialect).
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > framework of building > [noun] > roof-beam > rafter > principal
couple1364
principal1445
lever1481
coupling1577
chevron1580
blade1855
1481–2 in J. Raine Charters Priory Finchale (1837) p. ccclv Pro..meremio empto pro j lever in tenemento Roberti Jakson.
b. Steam-engine. †(a) = beam n.1 11 (obsolete); (b) a starting-bar.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > steam engine > [noun] > parts of > levers
working beam1744
beam1759
lever1759
side lever1804
lever-beam1824
walking beam1824
sway-beam1839
grasshopper-beam?1865
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > steam engine > [noun] > parts of > bars
cross-head1827
lever1836
radius bar1839
1759 K. Fitz-Gerald in Philos. Trans. 1758 (Royal Soc.) 50 727 The lever of the fire-engine [i.e. steam-engine] works up and down alternately.
1836 L. Hebert Engin. & Mech. Encycl. II. 702 The attendant pushes the handle or lever which he holds.
c. The piece by which the barrel of a breech-loader is opened.
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1881 [see sense 1a].
d. In Dentistry and Surgery = elevator n. 2. In Midwifery = vectis n. ( New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon).
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the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > surgical instruments > [noun] > instrument for raising depressed bone
griffin's foot1611
elevatory1617
levatory1617
levator1672
triploid1750
lever1846
trepanning-elevator1877
1846 F. Brittan tr. J. F. Malgaigne Man. Operative Surg. 74 With the Lever.—Its extremity is passed between two teeth, a sound and the decayed one, or a sound one and a stump.
e. The first row of a fishing-net.
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1884 J. Paton in Encycl. Brit. XVII. 359/1.
f. Short for lever watch n. at Compounds 2.
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the world > time > instruments for measuring time > watch > [noun] > particular types of watch
German watch1611
larum watch1619
clock-watch1625
minute watch1660
pendulum watch1664
watch1666
alarm watch1669
finger watch1679
string-watch1686
scout1688
balance-watch1690
hour-watch1697
warming-pan1699
minute pendulum watch1705
jewel watch1711
suit1718
repeater1725
Tompion1727
pendulum spring1728
second-watch1755
Geneva watch1756
cylinder-watch1765
watch-paper1777
ring watch1788
verge watch1792
watch lamp1823
hack1827
bull's-eye1833
vertical watch1838
quarter-repeater1840
turnip1840
hunting-watch1843
minute repeater1843
hunter1851
job watch1851
Geneva1852
watch-lining1856
touch watch1860
musical watch1864
lever1865
neep1866
verge1871
independent seconds watch1875
stem-winder1875
demi-hunter1884
fob-watch1884
three-quarter plate1884
wrist-watch1897
turnip-watch1898
sedan-chair watch1904
Rolex1922
Tank watch1923
strap watch1926
chatelaine watch1936
sedan clock1950
quartz watch1969
pulsar1970
1865 Notes & Queries 27 Jan. 27/2 (advt.) The prettiest gift for a lady is one of Jones's gold levers at 11l 11s.
1895 in Notes & Queries (1941) 20 Sept. 160/1 It couldn't have been a stop watch. It was a lever.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a. With the sense ‘belonging to a lever’.
(a)
lever-actuation n.
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1889 G. Findlay Working & Managem. Eng. Railway 79 The frame..known as lever actuation.
lever-edge n.
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1881 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (ed. 4) 125 Lever Edges..are polished in a swing tool.
lever-pin n.
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1881 W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. 263 Next turn out the lever pin on top of lever.
(b)
lever-like adj.
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1891 J. C. Atkinson Last of Giant-killers 190 The steel point of Sir Jack's Staff was inserted beneath it, and lever-like pressure applied.
b. With the sense ‘acting as a lever, worked by a lever’.
lever bit n.
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1834 Visit to Texas vi. 60 A horse..having their terrible lever bits put into his mouth, a moderate pull upon which might break his jaw.
lever-brace n.
lever clock n.
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1851 C. Cist Sketches & Statistics Cincinnati 217 Marine time-pieces, or patent lever-clocks.
lever-corkscrew n.
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1860 All Year Round 26 May 162 The lever corkscrew gave a zest to his wine.
lever-drill n.
lever-hoist n.
lever-jack n.
lever-knife n.
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1867 J. MacGregor Voy. Alone in Rob Roy 41 The pantry is beside them with..pepper..mustard, corkscrew, and lever-knife for preserved meat tins.
lever lock n.
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1841 C. Cist Cincinnati in 1841 (advt.) Patent lever lock Factory.
1851 C. Cist Sketches & Statistics Cincinnati 215 McGregor & Lee..manufacture lever locks.
lever-pallet n.
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1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 524 The centre of the lever-pallet..is in a right line between the centre of the scape-wheel and the centre of the verge.
lever-pendulum n.
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1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 526 In Ellicott's pendulum the ball was adjustable by levers, thence called the lever pendulum.
lever-press n.
lever-punch n.
lever-shears n.
lever-spar n.
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1873 W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 316 The lever-spar of a water-lift.
lever-valve n.
C2. Special combinations.
lever-beam n. Steam-engine (see beam n.1 11).
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > steam engine > [noun] > parts of > levers
working beam1744
beam1759
lever1759
side lever1804
lever-beam1824
walking beam1824
sway-beam1839
grasshopper-beam?1865
1824 ‘R. Stuart’ Descr. Hist. Steam Engine 159 As the lever-beam was dismissed, he communicated the motion to the paddle-wheels by a rod and crank attached to the piston.
lever-board n. (see quot.).
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1823 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 587 Lever-boards, a set of boards, parallel to each other, so connected together that they may be turned to any angle, for the admission of more or less air or light; or so as to lap upon each other and exclude both.
lever-bridge n. (see quot.).
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1853 H. Douglas Ess. Mil. Bridges (ed. 3) vii. 312 That which is called a Lever Bridge is made by cutting down trees, and sinking the buts of them in the bank on each side sufficiently deep that the parts which are buried may exceed in weight those which are out of the ground.
lever-engine n. †(a) = beam-engine n. (obsolete); (b) = side-lever engine (1876 in E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. and in later dictionaries).
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1744 J. T. Desaguliers Course Exper. Philos. II. 489 The Leaver Engine, often call'd Newcomen's.
lever escapement n. Watchmaking an escapement in which the connection between the pallet and the balance is made by means of two levers, one attached to the pallets and the other to the balance staff (Britten).
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1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 303/2 Lever-escapement.
1881 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (ed. 4) 34 The Lever Escapement..is generally preferred for pocket watches.
lever-fly n. a punching machine worked by a fly-wheel and a lever.
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1831 J. Holland Treat. Manuf. Metal I. 131 The holes..are punched in the metal by the assistance of what the boiler makers call a lever fly.
lever frame n. (a) (see quot. 1950); (b) ‘in a railroad hand-car, a wooden frame shaped somewhat like a letter A, which supports the lever-shaft and lever on the platform’ ( Cent. Dict.).
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > inspection or maintenance vehicle > part of
lever frame1869
1869 Bradshaw's Railway Man. 21 App. 116 (advt.) Patent locking lever frames.
1950 Times Rev. Industry 21/1 All points and signals are worked from a mechanical or manual lever frame.
1955 Railway Mag. May 307/2 At Stockport No. 2 signalbox, the existing mechanical lever frame has been retained.
1963 G. M. Kichenside & A. R. Williams Brit. Railway Signalling vi. 74 (caption) The interior of London Bridge signal box..showing the miniature lever frame.
lever-man n. U.S. one employed to work the levers in a railway signal-box.
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1901 Daily News 12 Jan. 6/2 A saving..has been effected in the wages of lever men.
lever watch n. a watch with a lever escapement.
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1848 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) I. 285/2 The lever watch is so named from the lever escapement of Mudge.
lever-wood n. the Virginian hop-hornbeam or ironwood, Ostrya virginica ( Treasury Bot. 1866).
ΚΠ
1755 in Coll. New-Hampsh. Hist. Soc. II. 102 In this meadow, they left a bow made of lever wood, and several arrows.
1810 F. A. Michaux Histoire des Arbres Forestiers de l'Amérique Septentrionale I. 32 Iron wood..[ou] Lever wood, nom dans..Maine et Vermont.
1832 D. J. Browne Sylva Americana 128 In Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, it [sc. Ironwood] is called Lever Wood.
Draft additions 1997
a. Also, by extension, used of any projecting arm or handle (usually in the form of a straight rigid bar) by which a mechanism is operated or adjusted, whether or not the main object is to do mechanical work.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > lever or crowbar > [noun] > not for mechanical work
lever1862
1862 Internat. Exhib.: Illustr. Catal. Industr. Dept. II. x. §2256 The upper ladders unship by means of shifting levers.
1904 A. B. F. Young Compl. Motorist iii. 64 All that is necessary in changing gear is to move the lever which tightens a band on one of the friction drums and locks it.
1954 J. Masters Bhowani Junction vii. 62 There was a lever on one handlebar to work the front brake.
1971 P. Toynbee Working Life iv. 60 You slip your card into the slot and pull down the lever which punches the time on it.
1988 Toronto Sun 13 Apr. 159 (caption) According to the instructions, a simple flip of a lever will enable the bike to be folded.
b. figurative, spec. in phr. to pull the lever and variants, to activate, experiment with, or facilitate the means or agency of making something happen.
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the mind > attention and judgement > testing > experiment [phrase]
to pull the lever1974
the world > existence and causation > causation > [phrase] > pull levers
to pull the lever1974
1903 Contemp. Rev. Mar. 410 The papal nuntius presses every lever and turns every screw.
1974 Times 4 Apr. 14 Job satisfaction might be found by moving to a new job that gave him or her the chance to ‘pull levers and see what happens’ rather than advising other people before they pull the levers.
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 30 Oct. 3/3 Jane Henry, wife of a community-college professor and mother of two, is concerned about the environment, so she will pull a lever for Carter.
1985 Christian Sci. Monitor 8 Feb. 26/3 There have been times when the Fed pulled the normal levers to coax the economy to zig, when instead that led the economy to zag.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
† levern.2
Obsolete. rare.
= believer n.
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society > faith > aspects of faith > [noun] > person(s) having
ileaffulOE
leaffulc1225
trowing1303
priestc1350
levera1400
trowera1400
believer?a1425
acknowledger1560
professor1597
credent1626
affiera1641
faithfullist1653
bhakta1828
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 18719 Þe leuer [Cott. and Gött. truand] & þe baptiȝed boþe Shulde be saued from alle loþe.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
levern.3
Obsolete. rare.
= levee n.2 2.
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society > leisure > social event > visit > [noun] > a reception of visitors > by person of distinction > in morning
rising1625
levee1673
lever1742
1742 Miss Robinson in M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) II. 191 We do not appear at Phœbus's Levér.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
leverv.
/ˈliːvə/, U.S. /ˈlɛvər/, /ˈlivər/ 1.
a. intransitive. To apply a lever; to work with a lever.
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society > occupation and work > industry > working with tools or equipment > work with tools or equipment [verb (transitive)] > lever
handspike1776
lever1856
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. ii. 31 It was all in vain that Hans and I..lifted, levered, twisted and pulled.
1897 Daily News 16 Mar. 6/5 They delved, and levered, and sweated.
b. To make way by leverage.
ΚΠ
1883 S. Baring-Gould John Herring I. i. 9 When he took his weight off,..the plough levered out of the ground.
2. transitive.figurative.1890 Graphic 11 Oct. 406/1 He seeks this by levering out of his place his best friend.figurative.1910 Westm. Gaz. 24 Mar. 2/3 The Moderates have levered themselves into a position they have no claim to occupy on the Council.
a. To lift, push, or otherwise move with or as with a lever; also with along, away, out, over, up. Also reflexive with into.
ΚΠ
1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy 209 The bottom of the pole being ‘levered’ out of the ground.
1882 R. Jefferies Bevis I. i. 11 He began to lever the raft along.
1887 S. Baring-Gould Gaverocks I. vi. 89 I flung with such force that I levered the boat away.
1891 M. M. Dowie Girl in Karpathians vi. 75 I levered up an eyelid with difficulty.
1896 Daily Chron. 15 Aug. 9/3 On no account should the canoe be levered with one end of the pole on the ground.
1898 Daily News 19 May 5/3 The concrete fell..and levered the pier over.
b. To bring into a specified condition by applying a lever.
ΚΠ
1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 286/1 By passing a bar through the frame..and levering it straight.
Derivatives
ˈlevering n. also attributive.
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society > occupation and work > industry > working with tools or equipment > [noun] > lever
levering1870
leverage1884
1870 A. D. T. Whitney We Girls x. 174 A few more vigorous strokes, and a little smart levering, and the nails loosened.
1897 Daily News 3 Nov. 6/6 Snapped off by means of some powerful levering tool.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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