milliampere Electr.
(mɪlɪˈæmpɛə(r), ˈmɪlɪæmˌpɛə(r))
Also milliampère.
[f. L. mille thousand + ampere.]
An electrical unit equal to the thousandth part of an ampere. Also attrib. milliampere meter, an instrument for measuring milliamperes of electricity.
| 1885 Jrnl. Soc. Telegr. Engin. XIV. 465 It [sc. the current] was 2·632 milliampères. 1891 in L. Clark Dict. Metric Meas. 1893 A. S. Eccles Sciatica 56 From five to eight milliampères of current. 1905 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 16 Sept. 620 A milliampèremeter to indicate the current going through the tube. 1922 F. W. Aston Isotopes 48 The bulb is arranged to take from 0·5 to 1 milliampere at potentials ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 volts. 1956 [see cosmotron]. |
Hence milliˈamperage, current expressed in, or of the order of, milliamperes.
| 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., Milliamperage. 1937 Discovery Feb. 54/1 The meter then reads to the corrected milliamperage of the total body surface-area. 1961 Med. X-Ray Protection up to 3 Million Volts (U.S. Nat. Bureau Standards Handbk. 76) 18 A beam monitoring device fixed in the useful beam is recommended to indicate any error due to incorrect filter, milliamperage, or kilovoltage. |