sprocket
nounUK /ˈspɹɒkɪt/
Etymology Unknown. First attested in the 16th century. Perhaps related to Italian rocchetto (“spool”), spoletta (“spool”), sprone (“spur”), or English spoke, spike, spur.
1
Engineering, Mechanical, Mechanical engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A toothed wheel that enmeshes with a chain or other perforated band.
2
Plural normally The tooth of such a wheel.
3
Architecture A flared extension at the base of a sloped roof.
4
A placeholder name for an unnamed, unspecified, or hypothetical manufactured good or product.
- Suppose we have a widget factory that produces 100 widgets per year, and a sprocket factory that produces 200 sprockets per year.
- Derived terms
- intersprocket, sprocketed, sprocketless, sprocket wheel