converter

American  

[kuhn-vur-ter] / kənˈvɜr tər /

Or convertor

noun

1. a person or thing that converts.

2. Electricity. a device that converts alternating current to direct current or vice versa.

3. Metallurgy. a chamber or vessel through which an oxidizing blast of air is forced, as in making steel by the Bessemer process.

4. Television. decoder.

5. Radio and Television. an auxiliary device that permits a receiver to pick up frequencies or channels for which it was not originally designed.

6. Physics. a reactor for converting one kind of fuel into another kind.

7. a person who is engaged in converting textile fabrics, especially cotton cloths, from the raw state into the finished product ready for the market by bleaching, dyeing, etc.

8. Also called converter lens.  Photography. an additional lens attached to a lens in use on a camera to alter focal length, mounted in front of a lens to produce a wide-angle effect wide-angle converter, or wide-angle converter lens or between the lens and the camera body to produce a telephoto effect teleconverter, or extender.

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converter British  

/ kənˈvɜːtə /

noun

1. a person or thing that converts

2. physics

   1. a device for converting alternating current to direct current or vice versa

   2. a device for converting a signal from one frequency to another or from analogue to digital forms

3. a vessel in which molten metal is refined, using a blast of air or oxygen See also Bessemer converter L-D converter

4. short for converter reactor

5. computing a device for converting one form of coded information to another, such as an analogue-to-digital converter

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converter Scientific  

/ kən-vûr′tər /

1. An electrical device that changes the form of an electric signal or power source, as by converting alternating current to direct current, or an analog signal to a digital signal.

2. Compare rectifier transformer

3. An electronic device that changes the frequency of a radio or other electromagnetic signal.

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Etymology

Origin of converter

First recorded in 1525–35; convert ¹ + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Converter thefts have surged across the U.S. in the last two years.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 7, 2022

Converter switches, which are often the size of a coin and consist of three parts, are mostly manufactured overseas.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2022

Converter thefts in Wichita, Kan., also almost tripled in 2020 compared to the previous year, to 547 cases from 191, and the pace picked up in January, with 102 reported cases just that month.

From New York Times • Feb. 9, 2021

In November 1969 — four months after the first astronauts walked on the moon — Dr. Carruthers received a patent for an “Image Converter for Detecting Electromagnetic Radiation Especially in Short Wave Lengths.”

From Washington Post • Dec. 31, 2020

“I’ll bet this tin-plated screwball is talking about the Energy Converter itself.”

From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov

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