hygrometric, a.
(haɪgrəʊˈmɛtrɪk)
[f. mod.L. hygrometric-us: see -ic; in F. hygrométrique.]
1. Belonging to hygrometry; measuring, or relating to, the degree of humidity of the atmosphere or other bodies.
| 1819 Pantologia s.v. Hygrometer, The grass is superior to any other substance..for hygrometric purposes. 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 641 Shallow pans of water placed over the stove may keep the air in its proper hygrometric state. 1852 Th. Ross Humboldt's Trav. II. xvi. 10 Hygrometric observations made at different hours. |
2. = hygroscopic 2.
| 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxxii. 494 One species of Mnium whose filaments..are so sensible of Moisture, that it has obtained the name of hygrometric. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 835 When the Bryum flexuosum is moist, the capsules lie concealed amongst the leaves by a singular hygrometric quality in the fruit-stalk; but, as the moisture exhales, they become nearly upright. 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 208 This starch..being less hygrometric than wheat starch, retains a more permanent..glaze. 1862 Darwin Fertil. Orchids v. 190 The contraction and consequent movement is hygrometric in its nature. |
3. Said of water or moisture so diffused as to be apparent only by the humidity that it imparts.
| a 1835 J. Macculloch Attrib. God (1837) III. xlii. 94 The dissolved or hygrometric water. c 1865 J. Wylde in Circ. Sc. I. 410/1 Absence of hygrometric moisture. |