repeater

[ri-pee-ter]

noun

a person or thing that repeats.

a repeating firearm.

Horology. a timepiece, especially a watch, that may be made to strike the hour or part of the hour.Compare clock watch.

Education. a pupil who repeats a course or group of courses that he or she has failed.

a person who votes illegally by casting more than one vote in the same election.

a person who has been convicted and sentenced for one crime, and later for another; recidivist.

Mathematics. (no longer in technical use) a repeating decimal.

Telecommunications. a device capable of receiving one-way or two-way communications signals and delivering corresponding signals that are either amplified, reshaped, or both.

Navigation. gyro repeater.

Origin of repeater

First recorded in 1570–80; repeat + -er¹

Related formsnon·re·peat·er, noun

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

Related Words for repeaters

prisoner, captive, felon, culprit, offender, crook, hooligan, fugitive, gangster, hoodlum, thug, convict, mobster, lawbreaker, dial, clock, watch, chronometer, calendar, chronograph

Examples from the Web for repeaters

Historical Examples of repeaters

"Half o' them's repeaters," said the keeper, overhearing the remark.
Harper's Young People, July 27, 1880
Various
There's a limit to the number of repeaters that can be brought into the district.
Tin-Types Taken in the Streets of New York
Lemuel Ely Quigg
In one place he had "interfered with an election and killed five repeaters."
The Stolen White Elephant
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
We are putting in a set of repeaters here, so you can reach him this way.
The Young Railroaders
Francis Lovell Coombs
There were primaries in New York city in 1827, and hundreds of repeaters voted.
The American Language
Henry L. Mencken

British Dictionary definitions for repeaters

repeater

noun

a person or thing that repeats

Also called: repeating firearm a firearm capable of discharging several shots without reloading

a timepiece having a mechanism enabling it to strike the hour or quarter-hour just past, when a spring is pressed

electrical engineering a device that amplifies or augments incoming electrical signals and retransmits them, thus compensating for transmission losses

Also called: substitute nautical one of three signal flags hoisted with others to indicate that one of the top three is to be repeated

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 repeaters

repeater

1570s, agent noun from repeat (v.). As a type of firearm from 1868; as "a frequent offender" from 1884.