▪ I. camber, n.
(ˈkæmbə(r))
Also gamber.
[a. F. cambre, f. cambrer: see next. Cf. cambrel.]
1. a. The condition of being slightly arched or convex above. Also concr. a flattened arch.
| 1618 [see camber-keeled in 4]. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 220 Camber..the convexity of a beam upon the upper edge, in order to prevent its becoming straight or concave by its own weight, or by the burden it may have to sustain, in course of time. Ibid. 582 Camber; an arch on the top of an aperture, or on the top of a beam; whence Camber-windows, &c. 1876 Gwilt Archit. 437 If the required rise or camber [in a riveted girder] equals e in the middle in inches. 1881 Times 11 Apr. 10/5 Boatbuilders insist on giving ‘camber’. |
b. The transverse arch of the surface of a road.
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 13 Oct. 2/7 Another suggestion is that the ‘camber’ (i.e., the upward curve) of roadways should be lessened. 1907 Ibid. 30 July 8/1 The heavy camber of the sides..is the cause of very many mishaps. 1925 Public Opinion 11 Dec. 588/2 Hodge has always allowed his horse to take the top of the camber. |
c. The curvature of the wings of an aeroplane. Also attrib.
| 1910 R. Ferris How it Flies xx. 456 Camber, the distance from the chord of the curve of a surface to the highest point of that curve, measured at right angles to the chord. 1918 H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks (ed. 6) 5, I must have a certain chord to make it possible for my Camber (that's curvature) to be just right for the Angle of Incidence. 1935 K. D. Wood Techn. Aerodynamics ii. 52 The shape of the median camber line of the variable-density-tunnel series is nearly the same as for other good airfoils. Ibid. 53 The maximum median camber must next be located relative to the line through the leading and trailing edges. |
d. Automobile Engin. (See quot. 19592.)
| 1936 Motor Man. (ed. 29) vii. 121 How a steering head is set to give castor action and camber. Ibid., The point..is thrust forward by the slope or castor angle of the king pin and slightly to one side according to the camber chosen for the wheel and pin. 1959 Ibid. (ed. 36) v. 102 Each steering swivel..is also given..a camber angle so that its axis, when viewed from the front, meets the road at a point..close to the centre line of the wheel. 1959 Motor 2 Sept. 92/1 Camber (the sideways inclination of the wheel). |
2. A piece of timber so bent; a camber-beam.
| 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 158 Camber, a piece of Timber cut Arching. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 102. |
3. ‘The part of a dockyard where cambering is performed, and timber kept. Also, a small dock in the royal yards, for the convenience of loading and discharging timber’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.).
| 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 403 Just outside the camber, [he] met us in the dockyard steam-launch. |
4. Comb., as camber-beam, -slip (see quots.); † camber-bored, camber-keeled (also camber-keel), adjs. camber-nose, ‘an aquiline nose’ (Halliwell, who cites ‘Junius’).
| 1721 Bailey, *Camber-beam..is a Beam cut hollow or arching in the middle. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 129. |
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 32 To know whether she be equally bored, *camber, taper, or belbored. |
| a 1618 Raleigh Royal Navy 34 It is a great weakening to a ship to have so much weight..at both the ends, and nothing in the Mid-Ship, which causeth them to warpe, and (in the Sea⁓phrase, and with Marriners) is tearmed *Camberkeeld. a 1642 Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts iii. (1704) 350/1 It will make the Ship Camberkeel. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Camber-keeled, keel slightly arched upwards in the middle of the length, but not actually hogged. |
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 388 The *Camber-slip is a piece of board of any length or breadth, made convex on one or both edges, and generally something less than an inch in thickness; it is made use of as a rule..When the brick⁓layer has drawn his arch, he gives the camber-slip to the carpenter. |
▪ II. camber, v.
(ˈkæmbə(r))
[app. a. F. cambre-r ‘to arch slightly’ (16th c. in Littré), a semi-popular repr. of L. camerāre to vault (the natural repr. being chambrer), f. camera vault.]
1. intr. To be or become slightly arched or curved so that the centre is higher than the ends.
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 6 The Decke doth camber or lie compassing. 1757 Robertson in Phil. Trans. L. 288 Now it so happened, thro' the great weight of the head and stern, that the ship cambered very much. |
2. trans. To bend (a beam, etc.) upwards in the middle; to arch slightly.
| 1852 P. Nicholson Encycl. Archit. I. 74 In all these instances the difficulty may be obviated by cambering the timber upwards. 1876 Gwilt Archit. 437 It is usual to camber a riveted girder, so that on receiving the permanent load it may become nearly horizontal. 1882 Nature XXV. 247 At the centre of the span, where the bottom member has been cambered upwards to a height of 150 feet for navigation purposes. |
Hence ˈcambered ppl. a., ˈcambering vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 6 A cambered Decke. 1757 Robertson in Phil. Trans. L. 292 The resistance of the parts bent by the cambering. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) Cambered Deck, the deck..of a ship is said to be cambered, or to lie cambering, when it is higher in the middle of the ship's length, and droops toward the stem and stern. 1878 Bartley tr. Topinard's Anthrop. ii. vi. 340 With head erect and cambered loins. 1909 Flight 20 Feb. 104/1 Cambered, this term denotes that the plane or wing has a curved transverse section. 1919 Autocar Handbk. (ed. 9) 223 When driving a car on a much-cambered or arched road. 1932 G. M. Boumphrey Story of Wheel 57 His roads were cambered (raised slightly in the middle to throw off water). 1951 W. F. Hilton High-Speed Aerodynamics ii. x. 241 The 8% cambered wing would be outside the limits of accuracy at M = 10. 1967 Gloss. Mining Terms (B.S.I.) xi. 6 Cambered girder, a roof bar projecting forward to support the roof beyond the propped area. |