detent

Etymology

From French détente, from Latin tendō (“to stretch”).

noun

  1. That which locks or unlocks a movement; a catch (stopping mechanism), pawl, or dog; especially, in clockwork, the catch which locks and unlocks the wheelwork in striking.
    A UHF tuner having 70 detent positions with fine tuning capability at all locations. Coarse tuning is accomplished via a toothed, detented disk and a spirally-extending rim having a follower lever operable therewith. 1972, Mayer et al., United States Patent 3760640, abstract

verb

  1. The action of creating a detent mechanism to lock or unlock movement.

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