Meaning of tourbillon | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A rotating frame, containing the escapement of a clock or watch, that attempts to compensate for the effects of gravity.
2. A whirlwind.
3. A kind of firework that gyrates in the air.
4. Any part of a machine with a spiral movement.

Equivalents

Examples

“Time was vulnerable to the force⟳ of gravity. So Breguet came up with the tourbillon, which isolated the balance wheel and escarpment off on a little platform of their own⟳, geared to the third wheel, rotating about once a minute, assuming in the course of the day most positions in 3-D space relative to the gravity of the Earth, so the errors would cancel⟳ out and make⟳ time impervious to gravity.”

“In their final year, each student must make⟳ their own⟳ watch⟳ with a complication—from a tourbillon to a chiming mode to having a date⟳ display.”

CEFR level