vernier Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun French mathematician who described the vernier scale (1580-1637)
Paul Vernier.
noun a small movable scale that slides along a main scale; the small scale is calibrated to indicate fractional divisions of the main scale
vernier scale.

So named after the inventor, Pierre Vernier.

A short scale made to slide along the divisions of a graduated instrument, as the limb of a sextant, or the scale of a barometer, for indicating parts of divisions. It is so graduated that a certain convenient number of its divisions are just equal to a certain number, either one less or one more, of the divisions of the instrument, so that parts of a division are determined by observing what line on the vernier coincides with a line on the instrument.