What is "pentagraph"

Pantograph \Pan"to*graph\, n. [Panto- + -graph: cf. F. pantographe.] An instrument for copying plans, maps, and other drawings, on the same, or on a reduced or an enlarged, scale. [Written also pantagraph, and incorrectly pentagraph.]

2. An electrical conducting device consisting of a collapsible frame resembling a pantograph[1], connected to the top of an electrically-powered vehicle such as a trolley, and used to conduct electrical current between the vehicle and an overhead electric wire, which supplies the power to the vehicle. The variable height of the pantograph ensures that it can move to follow variations in the height of the overhead wires, and thus make constant contact with the wires.

Skew pantograph, a kind of pantograph for drawing a copy which is inclined with respect to the original figure; -- also called plagiograph.

alt. A device used in surveying composed of four flat, straight brass rules, two of which are long and are connected by a double pivot at the end to create a "V" shape, and two of which are short and joined by a double pivot to create another "V" shape pointed away from the first, with the other ends of the short rules connected at the halfway mark of the long rules, so that the entire figure creates a parallelogram. n. A device used in surveying composed of four flat, straight brass rules, two of which are long and are connected by a double pivot at the end to create a "V" shape, and two of which are short and joined by a double pivot to create another "V" shape pointed away from the first, with the other ends of the short rules connected at the halfway mark of the long rules, so that the entire figure creates a parallelogram.

A pentagraph (from the , pénte, "five" and γράφω, gráphō, "write") is a sequence of five letters used to represent a single sound (phoneme), or a combination of sounds, that do not correspond to the individual values of the letters. In German, for example, the pentagraph tzsch represents the sound of the English digraph ch, and indeed is found in the English word Nietzschean. Irish has a number of pentagraphs. English, like most languages, has none.