backlash

backlash

1. a reaction or recoil between interacting worn or badly fitting parts in a mechanism

2. the play between parts

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

backlash

[′bak‚lash]

(design engineering)

The amount by which the tooth space of a gear exceeds the tooth thickness of the mating gear along the pitch circles.

(electronics)

A small reverse current in a rectifier tube caused by the motion of positive ions produced in the gas by the impact of thermoelectrons.

(engineering)

Relative motion of mechanical parts caused by looseness.

The difference between the actual values of a quantity when a dial controlling this quantity is brought to a given position by a clockwise rotation and when it is brought to the same position by a counterclockwise rotation.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.