napier's bones

1. 1.

   a set of graduated rods formerly used to do multiplication and division by a method invented by John Napier

   SynonymsNapier's rods

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   plural

Questions about napier's bones

What does napier's bones mean?

napier's bones means "a set of graduated rods formerly used to do multiplication and division by a method invented by John Napier".

What is another word for napier's bones?

Close synonyms include Napier's rods. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is napier's bones a common word?

napier's bones is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.