abacus

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: ab=a=cus

CIDE DICTIONARY

abacus, n. [L. abacus, abax, Gr. 'a`bax].

•  A table or tray strewn with sand, anciently used for drawing, calculating, etc.  [1913 Webster]
•  A calculating table or frame; an instrument for performing arithmetical calculations by balls sliding on wires, or counters in grooves, the lowest line representing units, the second line, tens, etc. It is still employed in China.  [1913 Webster]
•  The uppermost member or division of the capital of a column, immediately under the architrave. See Column.  [1913 Webster]
•  A board, tray, or table, divided into perforated compartments, for holding cups, bottles, or the like; a kind of cupboard, buffet, or sideboard.  [1913 Webster]

Abacus harmonicus (Mus.), an ancient diagram showing the structure and disposition of the keys of an instrument. Crabb.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

abacus, n. (pl. abacuses)
1 an oblong frame with rows of wires or grooves along which beads are slid, used for calculating.
2 Archit. the flat slab on top of a capital, supporting the architrave.

Etymology

L f. Gk abax abakos slab, drawing-board, f. Heb. ' abak dust

ROGET THESAURUS

abacus

Numeration

N numeration, numbering, pagination, tale, recension, enumeration, summation, reckoning, computation, supputation, calculation, calculus, algorithm, algorism, rhabdology, dactylonomy, measurement, statistics, arithmetic, analysis, algebra, geometry, analytical geometry, fluxions, differential calculus, integral calculus, infinitesimal calculus, calculus of differences, dead reckoning, muster, poll, census, capitation, roll call, recapitulation, account, notation, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, rule of three, practice, equations, extraction of roots, reduction, involution, evolution, estimation, approximation, interpolation, differentiation, integration, abacus, logometer, slide rule, slipstick, tallies, Napier's bones, calculating machine, difference engine, suan- pan, adding machine, cash register, electronic calculator, calculator, computer, arithmetician, calculator, abacist, algebraist, mathematician, statistician, geometer, programmer, accountant, auditor, numeral, numerical, arithmetical, analytic, algebraic, statistical, numerable, computable, calculable, commensurable, commensurate, incommensurable, incommensurate, innumerable, unfathomable, infinite, quantitatively, arithmetically, measurably, in numbers.