cathode-ray oscilloscope

cathode-ray oscilloscope

Electronic display device used to produce patterns on a screen that are the graphical representations of electrical signals. Time is normally on the horizontal axis, and a function of the voltage generated by the input signal to the oscilloscope on the vertical axis; four or more plots can be simultaneously shown. Because almost any physical phenomenon can be converted into a corresponding electric voltage, oscilloscopes find commercial, engineering, and scientific applications in acoustic research, television-production engineering, and electronics design.

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cathode-ray oscilloscope [′kath‚ōd ¦rā ä′sil·ə‚skōp]

(electronics)

A test instrument that uses a cathode-ray tube to make visible on a fluorescent screen the instantaneous values and waveforms of electrical quantities that are rapidly varying as a function of time or another quantity. Abbreviated CRO. Also known as oscilloscope; scope.