noun
- a sensitive aneroid barometer that is graduated and calibrated, used chiefly in aircraft for finding distance above sea level, terrain, or some other reference point by a comparison of air pressures.
- any device used for the same purpose that operates by some other means, as by radio waves.
noun
- an instrument that indicates height above sea level, esp one based on an aneroid barometer and fitted to an aircraft
1918, from Modern Latin altimeter, from alti- “high” (from Latin altus; see old) + -meter.
- An instrument that measures and indicates the height above sea level at which an object, such as an airplane, is located.