Definition of "escapement" [es•cape•ment]

• A mechanism consisting in general of an escape wheel and an anchor, used especially in timepieces to control movement of the wheel and to provide periodic energy impulses to a pendulum or balance. (noun)
• A mechanism, as in a typewriter, that controls the lateral movement of the carriage. (noun)
• An escape. (noun)
• A means or way of escape. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The escapement is a conventional in-line Swiss lever type, but with all parts made from plastic, excepting the impulse pin."
• "The scientists also said that fishery management played a role in the low numbers of returning salmon - "escapement" - in 2007."
• "The escapement is the regulating organ of the watch, and at the heart of this new creation, the constant escapement is a blade of silicium, finer than a human hair."