Definition

1. Noun:
   • A large gas-tight spherical or cylindrical tank for holding gas to be used as fuel: A "gasometer" is a large storage container, typically part of a gasworks, designed to hold a significant volume of manufactured gas (like coal gas) under pressure before distribution.
   • A meter for measuring the amount of gas flowing through a particular pipe: A "gasometer" can also refer to a device that measures the volume or flow rate of gas consumed, similar to a gas meter in a building.

Examples of Usage

• Noun (Storage Tank):
  • The old gasometer by the railway was a landmark of the industrial age.
  • The town's gas supply was stored in a massive cylindrical gasometer.
• Noun (Measuring Device):
  • The engineer checked the gasometer to record the factory's daily gas consumption.
  • A domestic gasometer is usually installed where the gas line enters the house.

Advanced Usage

• Historical/Industrial Context: The term "gasometer" for a storage tank is often associated with 19th and early 20th-century infrastructure. In modern technical language, such a structure is more precisely called a gas holder.
  • The decommissioned gasometer was converted into an innovative residential space.

Variants and Related Words

• Gas holder (n): The modern term for a large tank storing gas. This is often used synonymously with the storage tank meaning of "gasometer."
• Gas meter (n): A more common contemporary term for the device that measures gas consumption. This is the preferred term for the measuring device meaning.

Synonyms

• For the storage tank: Gas holder, gas tank, storage tank.
• For the measuring device: Gas meter, flow meter.

Notes on Meaning

• The dual meaning of "gasometer" arises from its construction: + (from Greek , meaning "measure"). Historically, a gasometer was a tank that both gas and, by its rising and falling, the volume held. This led to the term being applied to both large storage vessels and smaller domestic measuring devices. In contemporary usage, the meanings are distinct, and "gas meter" is standard for the measuring instrument.

Noun

1. a large gas-tight spherical or cylindrical tank for holding gas to be used as fuel
2. a meter for measuring the amount of gas flowing through a particular pipe