American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition - n. An instrument used to detect, measure, and
determine the direction of small electric currents by means of
mechanical effects produced by a current-carrying coil in a
magnetic field. Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia - n. An
instrument for detecting the existence and determining the
strength and direction of an electric current. In all
galvanometers the principle of action is the same. It depends
upon the force which Oersted discovered to be exerted between a
magnetic needle and a wire carrying a current—a force which
tends to set the needle at right angles to the direction of the
current, and whose intensity, other things remaining the same,
depends directly upon the strength of the current. - n. physics
A device used to indicate the presence and direction of a small
electric current, especially used to detect a null or balanced
condition in a bridge circuit. GNU Webster's 1913 - n. (Elec.)
An instrument or apparatus for measuring the