[ofalkaed]

I am an OED man myself.

>Relating to or operating with signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity, such as voltage, spatial position, etc., which in the case of measuring instruments can be displayed on a dial or other fixed scale. Also: designating a signal represented in this way.

But the bimetal strip represents the data that is the temperature of the coil and the coil represents the data of the current. We can use both as sensors and we do, the bimetal strip was ubiquitous in thermostats until the rise of the digital thermostat and still used, resistors as sensors are still common and used all over the place in electronics.