basculate

English

Etymology

Cf. Italian basculare, French basculer.

Adjective

basculate (comparative more basculate, superlative most basculate)

1. (mycology) Shaped like a basket;
   • 1956, E.E. Leppik, “Some viewpoints on the phylogeny of rust fungi. II. Gymnosporangium”, in Mycologia, volume 48, number 5:

     The peridial strand of a basculate aecium is so sensitive to moisture that simply breathing on the open peridium is sufficient to close it immediately.

Verb

basculate (third-person singular simple present basculates, present participle basculating, simple past and past participle basculated)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To oscillate or to tilt or pivot like a seesaw.
   • 1917, International Abstracts of Surgery - Volume 25, page 447:

     It shortens the length of the lever arm by means of which the weight of the body and the Achilles tendon tendon makes the calcaneum basculate by carrying its posterior extremity up and the large apophysis down.

   • 1929, International Institute of Refrigeration, Bulletin - Volume 10, page 649:

     It communicates with a spiral copper tube which, by dilatation under the action of the vapours evolved, produces a displacement of the end of the tube which causes a lever to basculate a mercury interruptor.

   • 1969, Luigi Gianoli, Horses and Horsemanship Through the Ages, page 188:

     This favors exercising the spinal column and engaging the muscles and the withers so as to basculate over the obstacle with facility.

   • 1970, Frank M. Polack, Corneal and External Diseases of the Eye, page 323:

     The prosthesis also tends to basculate back and forth and in one patient a continuous aqueous leak is observed ( Fig . 37 - VII ) .

   • 1997, V Barbaro, M Grigioni, C Daniele, G. Boccanera, “Reconstruction of closing phase kinematics by motion analysis for a prosthetic bileaflet valve”, in H. Power, C. A. Brebbia, Jose Kenny, editors, WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health: Simulations in BIomedicine IV, page 356:

     It must be taken into account that the pivot stops whithin the coupling region can be responsible for leaflet deceleration, especially in the first closing leaflet, because it can basculate at closure and occupy some of the space at disposal of the second leaflet.

   • 2009 April, M Popescu, A Velea, A Lörinczi, F Sava, “Commution-A New Concept in Switching Materials”, in Journal of Ovonic Research, volume 5, number 2:

     Different excitation thresholds are necessary to basculate the cluster forth and back.

   • 2021, Mansoor Khan, David Nott, Fundamentals of Frontline Surgery:

     The examiner should basculate the transducer caudally in approximately 45° to facilitate the bladder visualisation.

2. To alternate or transition.
   • 1995, Michel Labrèche, The Wizard of Us, page 153:

     The magnetic poles of the planet could basculate.

   • 1999, Luc T Wille, Murray T Batchelor, Statistical Physics On The Eve Of The 21st Century, page 60:

     But even if the market is initially in the stable phase, there is a non-zero probability that a random shock may cause the system to basculate over into the unstable phase, resulting in a sudden drop in the price: a market crash.

   • 2019, Elena del Río Parra, Exceptional Crime in Early Modern Spain, page 12:

     From their accounts arise certain patterns of motivation, behavior, and other criminal exploits, assembled in narrations that masterfully basculate between the exceptional and the series.

   • 2002, Cathering Zwetkoff, SUIT: Sustainable development of Urban historical areas through an active Integraion within Towns, page 204:

     Potentially destructive conflicts basculate at this stage on the destructive side.

Related terms

• basculation

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

basculate

1. inflection of basculare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

basculate f pl

1. feminine plural of basculato

Spanish

Verb

basculate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of bascular combined with te