waywiser
English edit
Etymology edit
Compare German Wegweiser (“a waymark, a guide”), from Weg (“way”) + weisen (“to show, direct”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
waywiser (plural waywisers)
- An instrument for measuring distance travelled; an odometer, pedometer, or perambulator.
- 1656, John Evelyn, Diary:
- I went to see Colonel Blount, who showed me the application of the "Waywiser" to a coach, exactly measuring the miles and showing them by an index as we went along.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “waywiser”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)