separator

[ sep-uh-rey-ter ]

/ ˈsɛp əˌreɪ tər /

noun

a person or thing that separates.

any of various apparatus for separating one thing from another, as cream from milk, steam from water, or wheat from chaff.

Electricity. a device that prevents metal contact between plates of opposite charge in a storage battery.

Machinery. retainer¹(def 3).

Nearby words

Origin of separator

1600–10; < Late Latin sēparātor, equivalent to Latin sēparā(re) to separate + -tor -tor

Related formspre·sep·a·ra·tor, noun

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

Examples from the Web for separator

Once the separator is clipped onto the cup, you can flip it over the edge.
The 2012 Holiday Kitchen Gift Guide|Megan McArdle|December 13, 2012|DAILY BEAST
When a buckling plate or plate with bulged active material breaks through the separator, Fig. 214.
The Automobile Storage Battery|O. A. Witte
The principle exhibited in a separator of grains and seeds is very neat.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 613, October 1, 1887|Various
The separation is, however, best effected in a separator (fig. 75).
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines.|Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer

He knew it for the morning butter-truck freighting from the separator house the daily output of the dairy.
The Little Lady of the Big House|Jack London
What is the principle of the separator that causes the cream to break away from the milk?
The Wonder Island Boys: The Mysteries of the Caverns|Roger Thompson Finlay

British Dictionary definitions for separator

separator

/ (ˈsɛpəˌreɪtə) /

noun

a person or thing that separates

a device for separating things into constituent parts, as milk into cream, etc

Derived Formsseparatory, adjective

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 separator

separator

c.1600, "separatist," agent noun from separate (v.). As a mechanical device for separating, from 1831.