gnomon

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The pole serves as a gnomon, the part of a sundial that casts a shadow to denote time.

From Washington Post

A sundial uses a shadow cast by a thin rod called a gnomon on to a flat surface etched with different times.

From BBC

A gnomon is the perpendicular part of a sundial, the part that casts a shadow.

From Washington Post

Pytheas of Marseilles—who lived in the time of Alexander the Great, about 330 B.C.—measured the latitude of Marseilles by means of a gnomon, and found it to be about 42° 56′½.

From Project Gutenberg

Then came the necessity of finding out about the inclination or obliquity of the ecliptic, and this is where the gnomon was employed.

From Project Gutenberg