Nilometer

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.

Lanchester concludes that “words longer mean what they once did. It is not a process intended to deceive, but, like the Nilometer, it confines knowledge to a priesthood—the priesthood of people who can speak money.”

From Forbes • Aug. 7, 2014

The Nilometer at this place used to give the first and early intimation to the cultivators in Lower Egypt of the quantity of water being brought down from the rivers of Abyssinia.

From The Life of Gordon, Volume I by Boulger, Demetrius Charles

Citadel and Mosque of Mahomet Ali The old Nilometer, for measuring the depths29 of the Nile, which was erected in 716, is of interest.

From Travels in the Far East by Peck, Ellen Mary Hayes

The Nilometer is in a square well 16 feet in diameter, having in the centre a graduated octagonal column with Cufic inscriptions, and is 17 cubits in height, the cubit being 21-1/3 inches.

From The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela by Benjamin of Tudela

If the Nilometer which measures the height of the flood indicates eight cubits, the crops will be scanty; but if it reaches fourteen cubits, there will be a plentiful harvest.

From History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume I (of 2) Revised Edition by Draper, John William