percolator

[pur-kuh-ley-ter]

noun

a kind of coffeepot in which boiling water in a repeated process is forced up a hollow stem, filters down through ground coffee in a sievelike container, and returns to the pot below.

something that percolates.

Origin of percolator

First recorded in 1835–45; percolate + -or²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for percolator

Historical Examples of percolator

In this treatise he describes and illustrates the Rumford percolator.
All About Coffee
William H. Ukers
Bob can make the coffee in the percolator in a little while, when we're ready.
A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband
Louise Bennett Weaver
This coffee that I've been making in the percolator is all ready, Bettina!
A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband
Louise Bennett Weaver
In the dining-room is an electric chafing dish and a percolator.
Inventors at Work
George Iles
(Troy) of ginger in fine powder into a percolator, and pour on it 12 ounces (old measure) of pure ether.
Cooley's Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades..., Sixth Edition, Volume I
Arnold Cooley

British Dictionary definitions for percolator

percolator

noun

a kind of coffeepot in which boiling water is forced up through a tube and filters down through the coffee grounds into a container

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 percolator

1795, agent noun in Latin form from percolate. Slang meaning "house party" is recorded from 1946.