barology

English

Etymology

From baro- +‎ -logy.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bəɹˈɒlədʒi/

Noun

barology (uncountable)

1. (obsolete, physics) The science of gravity or weight.
   • 1858, Auguste Comte, Positive Philosophy, page 211:

     We have seen enough of the difficulties of hydrodynamics to understand that the part of dynamical barology which relates to fluids must still be very imperfect.

   • 1913, Lester Frank Ward, Dynamic Sociology, page 114:

     Barology, or the science which embraces all the phenomena of terrestrial gravitation, is regarded as the purest of all the branches of physics, and therefore stands at the head of the category after astronomy.

   • 2018, Warren Schmaus, Liberty and the Pursuit of Knowledge:

     Thus it would seem that in barology, anything that went beyond mere barometer readings to the interpretation of these readings should be considered a hypothesis.

2. (music) A method of analyzing music according to hypermeter, deriving a structure of strong and weak bars and then phrases.
   • 2022, Graham J. McPhail, Knowledge and Music Education:

     The barology is realised through the subtle agogic placement of beats and bars relative to each other in the hierarchy of the pypermeter; in other words, some beats sound late and some early; and some bars sound early and some late.

Derived terms

• barologist

 

References

• JS Mill, Auguste Comte and positivism 1865; "divided by M. Comte into five departments: Barology, or the science of weights; Thermology, etc."