Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In surveying, the reading of a leveling-rod, taken when looking back to a station which has been passed. All other readings are called
foresights . - noun The rear sight of a gun.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Surv.) The reading of the leveling staff in its unchanged position when the leveling instrument has been taken to a new position; a sight directed backwards to a station previously occupied. Cf.
foresight , n., 3.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The rear sight of a
firearm . - noun surveying A measurement or reading taken back towards a point of known
elevation , used to calculate the height of thetheodolite . - noun surveying A measurement of a previously shot point, used to set the angle to zero when
occupying a new position. - verb surveying To
shoot a backsight.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The swan-neck cock made a slight creaking noise as it compressed the mainspring, then there was a click as the pawl took the strain and Hagman hinged the backsight up as high as it would go, then lined its notch with the blade-sight dovetailed at the muzzle.
Sharpe's Havoc Cornwell, Bernard 2003
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Sharpe aimed through the bars of the balcony's balustrade, lining the notch in the rifle's backsight and the leaf of the foresight on Aksel Bang's face.
Sharpe's Prey Cornwell, Bernard, 1944- 2001
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Both a foresight and backsight are taken on the point.
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This is a point used primarily to serve as a reference elevation to move the instrument, Both a foresight and backsight are taken on the point.
Chapter 10 1985
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Kitchener himself may have placed 'em just so, with D'Israeli's sanction, The Times 'blessing, and the Queen waving 'em good-bye — but now it's their grip on the stock, and their eye at the backsight, and if they break, you're done.
Flashman and the Dragon Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1985
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Kitchener himself may have placed 'em just so, with D'Israeli's sanction, The Times 'blessing, and the Queen waving 'em good-bye - but now it's their grip on the stock, and their eye at the backsight, and if they break, you're done.
Flashman And The Dragon Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1985
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Harper raised his first rifle, snapped the backsight into the upright position, and guessed the horsemen were three hundred yards away.
Sharpe's Eagle Cornwell, Bernard 1981
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It was undoubtedly a very old one, with the open U-shaped backsight which he'd heard of, but never seen.
The Alamut Ambush Price, Anthony 1971
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Of course, we've got a pretty short back-line to sight on, but the shift is more than a hundred times as great as the possible error in backsight could account for, and there's apparently nothing either regular or systematic about it that I can figure out.
Skylark Three Hans Waldemar Wessolowski 1927
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The tiny figures seen over the slide of the backsight seemed a little larger, but also fewer at each successive volley.
The River War An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan Winston S. Churchill 1919
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