Definition of "nilometer" [ni•lom•e•ter]

• A device used to measure the rise of water in the Nile at the flood (noun)

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• "It has been taken for a kind of nilometer, for a sculptor's or modeller's stand, or a painter's easel for an altar with four superimposed tables, or a sort of pedestal bearing four door-lintels, for a series of four columns placed one behind another, of which the capitals only are visible, one above the other, etc."
• "At this time of year, the nilometer should have been mostly dry, the waters of the Nile receding by October."
• "Or we can spend precious hours trying to find and steal a boat and cross a flooding river to the nilometer."