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lever
top to bottom: first-class, second-class, and third-class levers
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lev·er
 (l v  r, l vr)
KEY
NOUN:
- 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.
- A projecting handle used to adjust or operate a mechanism.
- 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 lev re, from levis, light; see legwh- in Indo-European roots |
