interrupter, -or
(ɪntəˈrʌptə(r))
Also 6 -our(e.
[In form α, a. L. interruptor, agent-n. from interrumpĕre: cf. F. interrupteur; in β, f. interrupt v. + -er1.]
a. One who interrupts: see the vb.
| α 1511–12 Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 10 The seid interruptoures and letters therof to be brought to Gaole. 1552 Huloet, Interruptour, interpellator. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. x. lviii. (1612) 254 Wherefore our Queene her interruptors sent. 1797 F. Burney Diary & Lett. VI. 141 Princess Augusta declined any interruptors. |
| β 1573–80 Baret Alv. L 342 A disturber, or letter of other: an interrupter. 1654–66 Ld. Orrery Parthen. (1676) 203 To seek out the high interrupter of it. 1771 Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. Ser. ii. I. 382 We were so busy no interrupters were admitted. 1804 H. K. White Let. to B. Maddock in Rem. (1819) I. 135 The companion of my walks—the interrupter of my evening studies. 1869 Daily News 16 Apr., This rebuke was loudly cheered by Mr. Aytoun's interrupters. |
b. A device for interrupting an electric current.
| 1851 C. Cist Cincinnati 302 It has been represented that Prof. Locke had merely invented a new species of ‘electrical interrupter’. 1881 S. P. Thompson Electr. & Magn. x. §398 The interruptors of induction coils are usually self-acting. 1881 Sci. American XIX. 388 If a Helmholtz interrupter be employed to make and break the primary circuit. |
c. attrib. interrupter gear, a timing device attached to machine-guns in aeroplanes to prevent the discharge of bullets when the propeller is in the line of fire. Also
transf.| 1928 C. F. S. Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station x. 150 The Fökker monoplane, which was equipped with a mechanical interrupter gear. 1932 Discovery Oct. 323/2 A very great advance..has been made in reducing the attrition of fabrics during washing, by an invention of the Research Association, called the Interrupter Gear. 1940 Flight 4 Jan. 7/1 That machine was..fitted with a rather crude but serviceable type of interrupter gear. |