slide rule

1. 1.

   analog computer consisting of a handheld instrument used for rapid calculations; have been replaced by pocket calculators

   Synonymsslipstick

   Broaderanalog computer

Questions about slide rule

What does slide rule mean?

slide rule means "analog computer consisting of a handheld instrument used for rapid calculations; have been replaced by pocket calculators".

What is another word for slide rule?

Close synonyms include slipstick. 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 slide rule a common word?

slide rule 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.