distributor
or dis·trib·ut·er
[dih-strib-yuh-ter]
- a person or thing that distributes.
- Commerce.
- a person, firm, etc., engaged in the general distribution or marketing of some article or class of goods.
- a wholesaler who has exclusive rights to market, within a given territory, the goods of a manufacturer or company.
- Automotive, Machinery. a device in a multicylinder engine that distributes the igniting voltage to the spark plugs in a definite sequence.
- Printing.
- (in a press) one of the rollers for spreading ink on the table, rolling it to a proper consistency, and transferring it to rollers that ink the form or plate.
- Also called distributor bar.(in a Linotype) a bar with keylike cuts along its length, for sorting matrices into their proper magazines after type has been cast.
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Origin of distributor
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for distributor
Contemporary Examples
He went on to thank his family, his gallerist, distributor, and paid tribute to artist Ian White.
The company had repossessed some of its screws after one U.S. distributor, Spinal Solutions LLC, stopped paying its bills.
Wineberry, a New York distributor, is also packaging Bag-in-Box wines in partnership with wineries.
Taking Boxed Wine Seriously: It’s Not Just for Hobos and Teenagers AnymoreJordan Salcito
March 15, 2014
According to Lee, the remake had a 140-minute cut that he and Brolin preferred, but the distributor slashed it to 105 minutes.
Securing a U.S. distributor for a movie with so much violence, sex, and drugs has also proved difficult.
Historical Examples
She was not a conqueror of nations or a distributor of crowns, but a giver of alms.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. IIFrancis Augustus Cox
Man himself is a great carrier and distributor of his own diseases.
More Science From an Easy ChairSir E. Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester
As a rule, all that a "pusher" or distributor can tell is where he got the bad money.
The Barrel MysteryWilliam J. (William James) Flynn
The distributor of papers looked at her a little sharply as he went by.
When Sarah Went to SchoolElsie Singmaster
But he was by now almost a capitalist—he was a distributor of meal-tickets.
H. R.Edwin Lefevre
distributor
distributer
- a person or thing that distributes
- a wholesaler or middleman engaged in the distribution of a category of goods, esp to retailers in a specific area
- the device in a petrol engine that distributes the high-tension voltage to the sparking plugs in the sequence of the firing order
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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 distributor
n.
1520s, distributer (Latinized form is from 1570s), agent noun from Latin distribuere (see distribution). As a part in an internal combustion engine, from 1905.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper