Rigid bars that pivot on a fulcrum to amplify force, one of the basic simple machines. Can also refer to means of achieving or controlling something.
From Old French leveor, from lever meaning 'to lift,' from Latin levare meaning 'to raise.' The mechanical sense dates to the 14th century, while the metaphorical sense of 'means of control' emerged in the 17th century.
Archimedes famously said 'Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.' Modern physics shows he was right - with an impossibly long lever, you could theoretically move any mass, though you'd be pushing for an impossibly long time!
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