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SEMAPHORE (Gr. oiva, sign, and (Popa,...

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 616 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SEMAPHORE (Gr. oiva, sign, and (Popa, carrying, from &See also:ea)  , to See also:bear), the name of an apparatus or See also:mechanical See also:device by which See also:information or messages can be signalled to a distance . It consists of movable arms or See also:blades of See also:wood, worked by levers and affixed to a high See also:post or See also:pole . The most See also:familiar See also:semaphore is that used in railway signalling on the See also:block See also:system, where the blade if See also:horizontal signifies danger, if dropped safety . Used with a See also:code, the semaphore is still used in the See also:navy for signalling from See also:ship to ship . Until the invention of the electric See also:telegraph, the semaphore was used for transmitting messages over See also:long distances .

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