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Origin and history of gyrostat

gyrostat(n.)

instrument for illustrating the dynamics of rotation, 1868, from gyro- + -stat.

also from 1868

Entries linking to gyrostat

gyrostatics(n.)

branch of dynamics dealing with rotating bodies, 1883, from gyrostatic (1875); see gyrostat + -ics.

gyro-

word-forming element meaning "gyrating" or "gyroscope," from Greek gyros "a ring, circle" (see gyre (n.)).

-stat

word-forming element used from 18c. in making names of devices for stabilizing or regulating (such as thermostat), from Greek statos "standing, stationary," from PIE *ste-to-, suffixed form of root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm." First attested in heliostat "an instrument for causing the sun to appear stationary" (1742). Related: -static.

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    1758, genus name of a type of eight-armed cephalopod mollusks, from Latinized form of Greek oktōpous, literally "eight-foot," from oktō "eight" (see eight) + pous "foot," from PIE root *ped- "foot." The more usual Greek word seems to have been polypous (also pōlyps), from polys "
    market
    early 12c., "a meeting at a fixed time for buying and selling livestock and provisions, an occasion on which goods are publicly exposed for sale and buyers assemble to purchase," from Old North French market "marketplace, trade, commerce" (Old French marchiet, Modern French march
    Albuquerque
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    abstract
    late 14c., originally in grammar (in reference to nouns that do not name concrete things), from Latin abstractus "drawn away," past participle of abstrahere "to drag away, detach, pull away, divert," also used figuratively; from assimilated form of ab "off, away from" (see ab-) +
    table
    Middle English, from Old French table, tabel "board, square panel, plank; writing table; picture; food, fare" (11c.), and also a survival of late Old English tabele "flat and relatively thin surface of some hard material," especially "writing tablet (of slabs of wood, etc.,), gam
    alchemy
    "medieval chemistry; the supposed science of transmutation of base metals into silver or gold" (involving also the quest for the universal solvent, quintessence, etc.), mid-14c., from Old French alchimie (14c.), alquemie (13c.), from Medieval Latin alkimia, from Arabic al-kimiya,
    defect
    early 15c., "want or lack of anything," especially lack of something essential to perfection or completeness, from Old French defect and directly from Latin defectus "failure, revolt, falling away," noun use of past participle of deficere "to fail, desert," from de "down, away" (
    resort
    late 14c., "that to which one has recourse for aid or assistance, source of comfort and solace," from Old French resort "resource, a help, an aid, a remedy," back-formation from resortir "to resort," literally "to go out again," from re- "again" (see re-) + sortir "go out" (see s
    vehement
    early 15c., from Old French vehement, veement "impetuous, ardent" (12c.), from Latin vehementem (nominative vehemens) "impetuous, eager, violent, furious, ardent, carried away," perhaps [Barnhart] from a lost present middle participle of vehere "to carry" (from PIE root *wegh- "t
    amethyst
    violet-colored quartz, late 13c., amatist, from Old French ametiste (12c., Modern French améthyste) and directly from Medieval Latin amatistus, from Latin amethystus, from Greek amethystos "amethyst," noun use of an adjective meaning "not intoxicating; not drunken," from a- "not"

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