stylusn.
/ˈstʌɪləs/, U.S. /ˈstaɪləs/ 1. = style n. 1.
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society > communication > writing > writing materials > writing instrument > [noun] > stylus
pointela1382
stylea1387
greffea1400
gad1570
pointrel1659
steel1738
stylet1753
stylus1807
1807 J. Landseer Lect. Engraving iii. 119 Lines drawn with a stylus or steel point (commonly called an etching needle) on copper.
1821 W. M. Craig Lect. Drawing ii. 101 The early Babylonians had a practice of tracing out various figures, with a stylus or point.
1834 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last Days of Pompeii II. iii. i. 8 A stylus..and tablets of no ordinary size.
1881 A. Watt Mech. Industries 126 The next operation [in etching] is to employ the stylus, or point.
1882 Chambers's Jrnl. 4 Feb. 81 The pencil outlines are then cut sharply on the friable surface with a stylus.
1884 J. Payn Some Lit. Recoll. (1885) 75 This delicate microscopic writing, looking as if it were done with a stylus.
2. figurative.1936 D. Thomas Coll. Poems (1952) 37 The grooved land rotating, that the stylus of lightning Dazzle this face of voices on the moon-turned table.
a. A tracing-point used to produce the written record in a chart recorder, telegraph receiver, or the like.
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society > communication > record > written record > [noun] > tracing point used to produce
stylus1875
tracer1878
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > sound recording or reproducing equipment > [noun] > cutting stylus
stylus1875
cutter stylus1908
cutting stylus1926
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2518/2 [article Telephone] The other arm terminates in a stylus which normally rests upon an ink-ribbon over the bed of the receiving-table.
1879 G. B. Prescott Speaking Telephone (new ed.) 295 The membrane carries a stylus, which also participates in the motion, and records it upon the blackened paper.
1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) XI. 382/1 By the use of a coated chart or an inked ribbon between the stylus and the chart, an intermittent record is made.
1971 Magrab & Blomquist Measurement Time-Varying Phenomena v. 182 A voltage will be applied to the coils of the writing system which will cause the slider and writing stylus to move in proportion to the voltage, thus obtaining a recording.
b. = needle n. 4e.
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society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > [noun] > devices for > specific > part of
stylus1879
stripchart1950
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > sound recording or reproducing equipment > [noun] > record-playing equipment > needle or stylus
stylus1879
needle1902
pin1911
needlepoint1929
sapphire1943
thorn needle1950
1879 Year-bk. of Facts 88/2 In that patent he [sc. Edison] describes a means of recording ordinary telegraph signals by a chisel-shaped stylus indenting a sheet of paper.
1892 W. Gillett Phonograph 12 Instead of one stylus serving for the two purposes, there are now two; one, the recorder, having a very keen edge,..and the other, the reproducer, having a tiny knob highly polished.
1892 W. Gillett Phonograph 13 (note) In some of Mr. Edison's recent instruments..two styluses are used.
1904 S. R. Bottone Talking Machines & Records 48 The recording stylus is now seldom made of steel, except only in the very commonest forms of recorders; but is usually made of..sapphire.
1943 Gramophone July 29/3 The stylus is a small sapphire carried on the toe of an L-shaped holder.
1960 Pract. Wireless 36 370 (advt.) Turnover sapphire styli.
1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio iv. 87 The hot-stylus method..helps to smooth the wall as the cutter moves on.
1975 Times 17 Sept. 16/3 Nowadays, you have a ‘cartridge’ with a ‘stylus’ in it, and the [gramophone] arm is called a ‘pick-up’.
3. The gnomon of a sun-dial; = style n. 7.
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the world > time > instruments for measuring time > [noun] > sundial > parts of
pinOE
gnomon1546
style1577
cock1585
hour-line1593
substyle1593
index1594
noon-line1596
incliner1638
substylara1652
substylar linea1652
staff1669
nodus1678
node1704
stylus1796
noon-mark1842
sun line1877
1796 J. Morse Amer. Geogr. i. 18 A species of sun-dial, having a stilus or gnomon erected perpendicularly upon an horizontal plane.
4. A pointer or finger; = style n. 6.
ΚΠ
1884 Manch. Examiner 16 Sept. 6/2 A curious Kalender, with an astronomical volvelle of which the stylus had been preserved.
5. Botany. = style n. 8.
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the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [noun] > parts of > stamen or pistil > style or pistil and related parts
chire1398
chithe1398
chyde?a1500
chive1535
clapper1578
dodkin1578
pestle1597
pointel1597
umbone1633
style1682
pistillum1703
pistil1717
stylet1720
stylus1729
column1807
gynobase1830
gynaeceum1832
stylopodium1832
stylopod1849
gynostegium1880
pistillode1904
columna-
1729 J. Douglass in Philos. Trans. 1727–8 (Royal Soc.) 35 570 They..fall to picking out the Filamenta Styli, or Chives, and together with them, a pretty long Portion of the Stylus itself, or String to which they are joined.
1771 Encycl. Brit. III. 457/1 Both have one stylus, and one long seed.
1856 J. S. Henslow Dict. Bot. Stylus. The style. Also the Ostiolum of certain Fungi.
6. Zoology. A style or stylet.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > [noun] > slender or pointed part
startc1400
pointel1613
cornicle1646
stylet1834
style1851
stylus1856
1856–8 W. Clark tr. J. van der Hoeven Handbk. Zool. I. 53 Trichodina.—Body oval, with vibratile cilia, without cirri or styli [L. sine cirris stylisve].
1887 W. J. Sollas in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 416/2 [article Sponges] By the suppression of one of the rays of an oxea, an acuate spicule or stylus results.
1887 S. O. Ridley in Rep. Sci. Results Voy. H.M.S. Challenger: Zool. XX. 84 Spicules.—Megasclera; long but very slender styli.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1919; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1729