calculator
[kal-kyuh-ley-ter]
noun
a person who calculates or computes.
Also called calculating machine. a small electronic or mechanical device that performs calculations, requiring manual action for each individual opertion.
a person who operates such a machine.
a set of tables that facilitates calculation.
Nearby words
- calculated,
- calculated risk,
- calculating,
- calculating machine,
- calculation,
- calculatory,
- calculosis,
- calculous,
- calculus,
- calculus of finite differences
Origin of calculator
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for calculator
calculator
noun
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
calculator
late 14c., "mathematician, one who calculates," from Latin calculator, from calculatus, past participle of calculare "to reckon, compute," from calculus (see calculus). Of mechanical adding machine contraptions, from 1784. Of electronic ones, from 1946.
Electronic calculator uses 18,000 tubes to solve complex problems ["Scientific American" headline, June 1946]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
calculator
An electronic device for performing automatic mathematical computations, usually controlled by a keyboard. Some are actually small computers, with limited memory, that allow the user to use simple programs.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.