rectifier
[rek-tuh-fahy-er]
- a person or thing that rectifies.
- Electricity. an apparatus in which current flows more readily in one direction than the other, for changing an alternating current into a direct current.
- the apparatus that in distillation separates the most volatile material by condensing it; condenser.
Show More
Origin of rectifier
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for rectifier
Historical Examples
This rectifier will do the work of two of the ten battery Tungars.
The Automobile Storage BatteryO. A. Witte
Filtration still remains the best and simplest adjunct to the rectifier.
The disacidification, before entering the rectifier, is effected by the metallic zinc.
The manufacture of liqueurs constitutes the trade of the compounder, rectifier, or liquoriste.
Cooley's Practical Receipts, Volume IIArnold Cooley
The wash is pumped from the wash charger into the worm-tub, which passes from top to bottom of the rectifier.
Cooley's Practical Receipts, Volume IIArnold Cooley
rectifier
- an electronic device, such as a semiconductor diode or valve, that converts an alternating current to a direct current by suppression or inversion of alternate half cycles
- chem an apparatus for condensing a hot vapour to a liquid in distillation; condenser
- a thing or person that rectifies
Show More
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 rectifier
n.
1610s, agent noun from rectify.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
rectifier
[rĕk′tə-fī′ər]
- An electrical device that converts alternating current to direct current. Rectifiers are most often made of a combination of diodes, which allow current to pass in one direction only. Compare converter transformer.
Show More
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.