lever
part of speech
noun (a lever, levers); verb (lever, levers, levered, levering)
meaning for a pupil
1) A lever is a bar or handle that moves around a fixed point (the pivot or fulcrum) to help lift or move something heavy with less effort. tree →
2) A lever is a handle you push or pull to work a machine: a gear lever. tree →
3) To lever something is to move or open it using a lever: lever off a lid. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science, the lever is a simple machine: a seesaw, scissors, a spoon prising open a tin lid, a bottle opener and a wheelbarrow are all levers. The farther your push is from the pivot, the less force you need to lift the load. Phrases: pull the lever, lever open, lever up, gear lever.
examples
- A seesaw is a kind of lever. tree →
- Use a spoon as a lever to open the paint tin. tree →
- Pull the lever to start the machine. tree →
- Scissors are two levers joined together. tree →
- The longer the lever, the easier it is to lift the load. tree →
- She levered the lid off the box. tree →
- The pivot is the point a lever turns around. tree →
- The driver moved the gear lever. tree →
note
Pronounced LEE-ver (UK, Australia, NZ, Ireland) or LEV-er (USA, Canada). Parts: load, effort, pivot (fulcrum). In maths/science, a lever balances when weight x distance on one side equals weight x distance on the other side.
In the corpora
- In one experiment goldfish learned to push a lever for food and remembered the time of day when it worked.
- Do not use a knife to lever open a lid; ask for help, because the knife can snap or slip.
- If toast starts smoking, press the cancel lever and unplug the toaster.
- Goldfish can remember things for months and can be trained to respond to sounds and push levers for food.
- Seesaws, scissors, wheelbarrows, bottle openers, nutcrackers, tongs and even your own arm are all levers.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «lever» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.