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Definition of lever


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lever
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lever
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lev·er  audio  (lvr, lvr) KEY  

NOUN:
  1. A simple machine consisting of a rigid bar pivoted on a fixed point and used to transmit force, as in raising or moving a weight at one end by pushing down on the other.
  2. A projecting handle used to adjust or operate a mechanism.
  3. A means of accomplishing; a tool: used friendship as a lever to obtain advancement.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
lev·ered , lev·er·ing , lev·ers
To move or lift with or as if with a lever.

ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, from Old French levier, from lever, to raise, from Latin levre, from levis, light; see legwh- in Indo-European roots



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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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