electrode
(ɪˈlɛktrəʊd)
[f. electro- + -ode (as in anode), ad. Gr. ὁδός way.]
1. a. A conductor by means of which electricity enters or leaves an electrolyte, gas, or other medium, or a vacuum. See anode and cathode.
| 1834 Faraday Res. Electr. (1839) §662 In place of the term pole I propose..Electrode, and I mean thereby that surface..which bounds the extent of the decomposing matter in the direction of the electric current. 1850 Daubeny Atom. The. vii. (ed. 2) 207 The same wire, if made the positive electrode of the galvanic battery, is not acted upon by the acid. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 102 This plate forms one of the electrodes or entrances by which the electricity reaches the liquid (otherwise called the poles). |
b. spec. A welding-rod, a filler-rod.
| 1930 Engineering 14 Mar. 353/2 About 75 per cent. of his work was with bare wire electrodes. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 194/1 Continuous electrode, a type of carbon electrode used in electric furnaces; the electrode is gradually fed forward as the lower part burns away, and the upper part is renewed by adding fresh material. 1958 Engineering 11 Apr. 478/2 Automatic machines utilising..continuous electrodes were employed for the automatic welding of the vessel. |
2. attrib. and
Comb., as
electrode efficiency,
electrode holder,
electrode material;
electrode potential, the difference of potential between an electrode and the electrolyte with which it is in contact (
Gloss. Terms Electr. Engin., B.S.I., 1943).
| 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 287/1 Electrode efficiency, the ratio of the quantity of metal deposited in an electrolytic cell to the quantity which should theoretically be deposited according to Faraday's laws. 1944 S. Field Princ. Electrodeposition iii. 26 Another convenient term is ‘electrode efficiency’, representing the relative efficiencies at anode and cathode. |
| 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. s.v. Arc, (caption) Electrode-holder. 1936 Discovery July 221/1 A ferruled electrode holder of the clamp type. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 287/1 Electrode-holder, in electric arc-welding, a device used for holding the electrode and leading the current to it. |
| 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 123/2 Ordinarily carbon is used as the electrode material. |
| 1907 Trans. Faraday Soc. July 70 Electrode potentials in liquid ammonia. 1931 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. CXXIII. 742 The electrode potentials of pearlitic steels of various carbon contents..were also measured. 1944 S. Field Princ. Electrodeposition xiii. 167 Two of these electrode potentials, or ‘single’ potentials as they are sometimes called, contribute to the e.m.f. of the Daniell cell. |
Hence
eˈlectrodeless a., destitute of electrodes.
| 1893 Athenæum 13 May 609/2 Mr. E. C. Rimington read a paper ‘On Luminous Discharges in Electrodeless Vacuum Tubes’. 1899 Daily News 29 June 6/5 The electrode-less or ring discharge in various gases. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XII. 589/1 A simple and extremely useful light source has been developed since 1946... It consists of an electrodeless glass or quartz tube containing a minute amount of volatile metal or compound plus a trace of argon gas excited in alternating electro⁓magnetic fields of ultra-high frequency. |