Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to 6 feet (1.8288 m), used especially for measuring the depth of water. [1] The fathom is neither an international standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally accepted non-SI unit. Historically it was the maritime measure of depth in the English-speaking world but ...
The foot (standard symbol: ft) [1][2] is a unit of length in the British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. The prime symbol, ′, is commonly used to represent the foot. [3] In both customary and imperial units, one foot comprises 12 inches, and one yard comprises three feet. Since an international agreement in 1959 ...
Roman milestone in modern Austria (AD 201), indicating a distance of 28 Roman miles (~41 km) to Teurnia. The basic unit of Roman linear measurement was the pes (plural: pedes) or Roman foot. Investigation of its relation to the English foot goes back at least to 1647, when John Greaves published his Discourse on the Romane foot.
The Anglo-Saxons introduced a North-German foot of 13.2 inches (335 mm), divided into 4 palms or 12 thumbs, while the Roman foot continued to be used in the construction crafts. In the late 13th century, the modern foot of 304.8 mm was introduced, equal to exactly 10 ⁄ 11 Anglo-Saxon foot. Cubit: 457.2 mm: From fingertips to elbow, 18 inches ...
In ancient Rome, according to Vitruvius, a cubit was equal to 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 Roman feet or 6 palm widths (approximately 444 mm or 17 + 1 ⁄ 2 in). [23] A 120-centimetre cubit (approximately four feet long), called the Roman ulna, was common in the Roman empire, which cubit was measured from the fingers of the outstretched arm opposite the man's hip.
The inch (symbol: in or ″) is a unit of length in the British Imperial and the United States customary systems of measurement. It is equal to 1 36 yard or 1 12 of a foot. Derived from the Roman uncia ("twelfth"), the word inch is also sometimes used to translate similar units in other measurement systems, usually understood as ...
Legua nautica (nautical league): Between 1400 and 1600 the Spanish nautical league was equal to four Roman miles of 4,842 feet, making it 19,368 feet (5,903 metres or 3.1876 modern nautical miles). However, the accepted number of Spanish nautical leagues to a degree varied between 14 1/6 to 16 2/3, so in actual practice the length of a Spanish ...
foot; perch, used variously to measure length or area; acre and acre's breadth; furlong; mile; The best-attested of these is the perch, which varied in length from 10 to 25 feet, with the most common value (16 1 ⁄ 2 feet or 5.03 m) remaining in use until the twentieth century. [1] Later development of the English system continued in 1215 in ...