vibrator

American  

[vahy-brey-ter] / ˈvaɪ breɪ tər /

noun

• vibrators
  plural

1. a person or thing that vibrates.

2. any of various machines or devices causing a vibratory motion or action.

3. a small electrical device of variable shape, made to oscillate very rapidly and used in massage or to provide sexual pleasure.

4. Electricity.

   1. a device in which, by continually repeated impulses, a steady current is changed into an oscillating current.

   2. a device for producing electric oscillations.

---

vibrator British  

/ vaɪˈbreɪtə /

noun

1. 1. a device for producing a vibratory motion, such as one used in massage or in the distribution of wet concrete in moulds

   2. such a device with a vibrating part or tip, used as a dildo

2. a device in which a vibrating conductor interrupts a circuit to produce a pulsating current from a steady current, usually so that the current can then be amplified or the voltage transformed See also chopper

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonvibrator
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• vibrators
  plural

Etymology

Origin of vibrator

First recorded in 1860–65; vibrate + -or ²

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vibrator vibrators

The special concrete will coalesce without any need to plunge a power vibrator into the slurry, a task workers at the 2007 Tacoma Narrows Bridge performed hundreds of times while forming its 510-foot-high towers.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 22, 2022

The treatments were performed with a hand-held vibrator and involved three cycles of stimulation to the tendons on the non-operated wrist, with a 10-second rest between cycles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2015

The voice box can be replaced with a mechanical vibrator, and understandable speech is still possible.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

For the dune buggy, the students built a vest from a massage chair vibrator.

From US News ● Feb. 4, 2011

A half turn of the adjusting screw on a coil will often increase the strength of the current four or five times the original amount, hence, the necessity of carefully adjusting the vibrator.

From Hawkins Electrical Guide, Number One Questions, Answers, & Illustrations, A Progressive Course of Study for Engineers, Electricians, Students and Those Desiring to acquire a Working Knowledge of Electricity and its Applications by Nehemiah Hawkins

Tight spaces and formwork inside the bridge prevent crews from reaching the wet slurry with wand-shaped vibrators.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 14, 2022

Total, the French energy company, expects the first industrial fleet of marine vibrators will be in use by 2023.

From Scientific American ● Feb. 23, 2021

Wadensten owns a company that makes industrial vibrators used in dump trucks.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 25, 2018

That lone dissenter was Kurt Wadensten, who owns Vibco, one of the country’s main manufacturers of industrial vibrators.

From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2013

Other appliances which will prove their value if once tried are heating pads, vibrators, heating or disk stoves, luminous radiators, sewing machines, fans, pressing iron for the sewing-room and Christmas tree outfits.

From Fowler's Household Helps Over 300 Useful and Valuable Helps About the Home, Carefully Compiled and Arranged in Convenient Form for Frequent Use by Arthur L. Fowler