detent

English

Etymology

From French détente, from Latin tendō (“to stretch”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dɪˈtɛnt/
  • Rhymes: -ɛnt
  • Hyphenation: de‧tent

Noun

detent (plural detents)

  1. That which locks or unlocks a movement; a catch, pawl, or dog; especially, in clockwork, the catch which locks and unlocks the wheelwork in striking.
    • 1972, Mayer et al., United States Patent 3760640, abstract:
      A UHF tuner having 70 detent positions with fine tuning capability at all locations. Coarse tuning is accomplished via a toothed, detented disk and a spirally-extending rim having a follower lever operable therewith.

Verb

detent (third-person singular simple present detents, present participle detenting, simple past and past participle detented)

  1. The action of creating a detent mechanism to lock or unlock movement.

Further reading

  • detent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • detent in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • detent at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

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