definitions

glow plug

noun Automotive, Machinery.

a device for each cylinder of a diesel engine with a heating element to heat the incoming fuel and air so that combustion will take place more readily when the engine is cold.

RELATED CONTENT

Who Is Jack In Jack-o’-lantern, Anyway?Who, or what, is the namesake of this autumn tradition?
READ MORE
What Does Calling Someone “Mom” On The Internet Mean?While Kim Kardashian was busy “breaking the Internet” with her controversial photoshoot for Paper in November of 2014, New Zealand singer/songwriter Lorde was teaching the world—or at least her Twitter and Tumblr followers—about a new slang use of the word mom.
READ MORE

Nearby words

glover's suture, gloversville, glow, glow discharge, glow lamp, glow plug, glow-worm, glower, glowfly, glowing, glowstick

Origin of glow plug

First recorded in 1940–45

Related forms

glow-plug, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for glow plug

glow plug

noun

one of usually four plugs fitted to the cylinder block of a diesel engine that warms the engine chamber to facilitate starting in cold weatherAlso called: heater plug
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