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carburetor

[kahr-buh-rey-ter, -byuh-]
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noun
  1. a device for mixing vaporized fuel with air to produce a combustible or explosive mixture, as for an internal-combustion engine.
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Also car·bu·ra·tor, car·bu·ret·er; especially British, car·bu·ret·tor, car·bu·ret·ter [kahr-byuh-ret-er] /ˈkɑr byəˌrɛt ər/.

Origin of carburetor

First recorded in 1860–65; carburet + -or2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for carburetor

Historical Examples

  • The first was sure that there was dirt on the point of the needle valve, in the carburetor.

    Free Air

    Sinclair Lewis

  • At that moment Martin Dockerill suggested that the carburetor was dirty.

    The Trail of the Hawk

    Sinclair Lewis

  • A bit of tinkering with the carburetor, and the engine purred softly.

    Life in a Tank

    Richard Haigh

  • We took the gas line off at the carburetor and blew it out with compressed air.

    Smugglers' Reef

    John Blaine

  • I am sure that the trifling disorder in the carburetor may be corrected.

    The Secret Witness

    George Gibbs

Word Origin and History for carburetor

n.

device to enhance a gas flame, 1866, from carburet "compound of carbon and another substance" (1795, now displaced by carbide), also used as a verb, "to combine with carbon" (1802); from carb-, comb. form of carbon, + -uret, an archaic suffix formed from Modern Latin -uretum to parallel French words in -ure. Motor vehicle sense is from 1896.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper