Escapement
(Es*cape"ment) n. [Cf. F. échappement. See Escape.]
1. The act of escaping; escape. [R.]
2. Way of escape; vent. [R.]
An escapement for youthful high spirits.
G. Eliot. 3. The contrivance in a timepiece which connects the train of wheel work with the pendulum or balance,
giving to the latter the impulse by which it is kept in vibration; — so called because it allows a tooth to
escape from a pallet at each vibration.
Escapements are of several kinds, as the vertical, or verge, or crown, escapement, formerly used in
watches, in which two pallets on the balance arbor engage with a crown wheel; the anchor escapement,
in which an anchor-shaped piece carries the pallets; — used in common clocks (both are called recoil
escapements, from the recoil of the escape wheel at each vibration); the cylinder escapement, having
an open-sided hollow cylinder on the balance arbor to control the escape wheel; the duplex escapement,
having two sets of teeth on the wheel; the lever escapement, which is a kind of detached escapement,
because the pallets are on a lever so arranged that the balance which vibrates it is detached during the
greater part of its vibration and thus swings more freely; the detent escapement, used in chronometers; the
remontoir escapement, in which the escape wheel is driven by an independent spring or weight wound
up at intervals by the clock train, — sometimes used in astronomical clocks. When the shape of an
escape- wheel tooth is such that it falls dead on the pallet without recoil, it forms a deadbeat escapement.
Escaper
(Es*cap"er) n. One who escapes.
Escarbuncle
(Es*car"bun*cle) n. [OF. escarbuncle, F. escaboucle.] (Her.) See Carbuncle, 3.
Escargatoire
(Es*car`ga*toire") n. [F. escargotière, fr. escargot snail.] A nursery of snails. [Obs.] Addison.
Escarp
(Es*carp") n. [F. escarpe fr. escarper to cut steep, cut to a slope, prob. of German origin: cf.
G. scharf sharp,, E. sharp, or perh. scrape.] (Fort.) The side of the ditch next the parapet; — same
as scarp, and opposed to counterscarp.
Escarp
(Es*carp"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Escarped ; p. pr. & vb. n. Escarping.] (Mil.) To make into,
or furnish with, a steep slope, like that of a scrap. Carleton.
Escarpment
(Es*carp"ment) n. [Cf. F. escarpement.] A steep descent or declivity; steep face or edge
of a ridge; ground about a fortified place, cut away nearly vertically to prevent hostile approach. See
Scarp.
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escent
(-es"cent) [From the ending -escens, - entis, of the p. pr. of inchoative verbs in Latin.] A suffix
signifying beginning, beginning to be; as, adolescent, effervescent, etc.
Eschalot
(Esch`a*lot") n. (Bot.) See Shallot.
Eschar
(Es"char) n. [L. eschara, Gr. : cf. F. eschare. See Scar.] (Med.) A dry slough, crust, or
scab, which separates from the healthy part of the body, as that produced by a burn, or the application
of caustics.
