Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for Pendulum
pendulum, n. [L., free-hanging body.] (webplay: clock, point, times).
- Time-keeping device; rhythmically oscillating body which serves to mark the passage of time.
- Metronome; [fig.] cricket; rhythmically chirping insect; creature whose appearance and disappearance marks the passage of the seasons.
- [Fig.] heart; life-regulating apparatus of the human body; rhythmically contracting muscular organ.
- [Fig.] usual order of things; commonly perceived laws of reality.
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