fulcrum

Definition

The support about which a lever pivots.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fulcrum (“bedpost, foot of a couch”), from fulciō (“prop up, support”).

Example Sentences

• "It is possible to flick food across the table using your fork as a lever and your finger as a fulcrum."
• "MILDRED: Archimedes said give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I will move the world. CHARLOTTE: Yeah she said that twaddle eight or nine times."
• "A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place."