Definition of "hypsometry" [hyp•som•e•try]

• The measurement of elevation relative to sea level. (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.

• "This form of measurement is called hypsometry from the Greek hypsos, "height" and metria"
• "Oh, wisdom of man and the apparatus of the sciences, the little columns of mercury that sling up and down, the vacuum boxes that expand and contract, the hammer that chips the highest rocks, the compass that takes the bearings of glacier and ridge -- all the equipage of hypsometry and geology and geodesy -- how pitifully feeble and childish it seems to cope with the majesty of the mountains!"
• "I do not know that accurate levels have been taken in the valley of the Jordan above the Lake of Tiberias, and our information is very vague as to the hypsometry of the northern part of the Wadi-el-Araba."