tentationn.
/tɛnˈteɪʃən/ 1. Obsolete form of temptation n.: sometimes specially expressing experimental trial, as distinct from enticement to evil.
2. technical. A mode of working or adjusting by trial or experiment.
a. ‘(Locksmithing.) A mode of picking locks in which the bolt is pressed backward constantly, and the tumblers released one by one from the stud.’
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b. ‘(Compass-adjusting.) Professor Airy's mode of adjusting compasses in iron ships, in which boxes of iron chain and magnets are experimentally placed and shifted..until the disturbing influence of the iron hull is neutralized’ (E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. 1877 s.v.).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online December 2019).
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