vibrator

American  

[vahy-brey-ter] / ˈvaɪ breɪ tər /

noun

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.

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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

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Other Word Forms

• nonvibrator noun

Etymology

Origin of vibrator

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

Example Sentences

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

On this explanation the distance between two consecutive places where the sparks vanished would be half the wave length of the waves given out by the vibrator.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 2 "Ehud" to "Electroscope" by Various