alternator
[awl-ter-ney-ter, al-]
- a generator of alternating current.
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Origin of alternator
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for alternator
Historical Examples
The other appears to have in it a resistance and a battery (or else an alternator).
Letters of a Radio-Engineer to His SonJohn Mills
The roar of the alternator died down, first to a hum and then to a purr.
The Man Who Rocked the EarthArthur Train
I was up here—loading the condenser—when you cut me off from the alternator.
The Man Who Rocked the EarthArthur Train
The alternator began to buzz and spark, crackling viciously.
The Boy Inventors' Radio TelephoneRichard Bonner
Each vertical row comprises the measuring instruments for an alternator.
The New York SubwayAnonymous
alternator
- an electrical machine that generates an alternating current
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for alternator
n.
1878, agent noun in Latin form from alternate (v.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
alternator
[ôl′tər-nā′tər]
- An electric generator that produces alternating current. The generator's coil is rotated (by a turbine, motor, or other power source), and its circular path causes it to cut cross a magnetic field (set up by strong magnets), first in one direction, then the other, with each cycle. The electric potential induced in the coil by this motion thus alternates between positive and negative once with each cycle, resulting in alternating current. See more at induction.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.