▪ I. interrogator1
(ɪnˈtɛrəgeɪtə(r))
[a. late L. interrogātor, agent-n. f. interrogāre to interrogate; cf. F. interrogateur (1549 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. One who interrogates; a questioner.
| 1751 Harris Hermes i. viii. 153 note, Retrenching by an ellipsis all the rest, which rest the interrogator is left to supply from himself. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Prior Wks. III. 138 He was examined before a committee..Mr. Stanhope, and Mr. Lechmere were the principal interrogators. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi xxvii. 559 When we tried to fancy ourselves in the position of the interrogator. |
2. A radio or radar transmitter designed to transmit interrogating signals to a transponder; also (more fully interrogator-responsor, interrogator-responder), one that in addition receives the resulting signals from the transponder.
| 1945 Nature 15 Sept. 324/1 Pulses from an airborne or shipborne interrogator. 1945 Electronic Engin. XVII. 735/3 Aircraft and other moving vehicles could now carry small questioning transmitters (‘interrogators’). 1946 Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engin. XCIII. iiia. 331/2 (heading) Introduction of an independent interrogator-responder system. 1947 A. Roberts Radar Beacons ii. 28 An interrogator-responsor can be so designed as to be useful as a radar. 1962 Aeroplane & Commercial Aviation News 29 Mar. 27/1 The aerial system..was delivered in February and the interrogator-responsor is now being shipped. An airborne transponder is also being obtained. |
▪ II. † inteˈrrogator2 Sc. Obs.
[ad. F. interrogatoire; see next and cf. interlocutor2.]
= interrogatory B. 1. See also intergatour.
| 1561 St. Andrews Kirk-sess. Reg. (1889) 108 Examinat upon the generall interrogatouris of the law, he purgis hym [self]. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 66 The veritie of the mater sall be tryed before the Justitiar, be sundrie interrogatours and answers made thereto. |