regenerator
(rɪˈdʒɛnəreɪtə(r))
[f. regenerate v. + -or. Cf. F. régénérateur (14th c.).]
1. One who or that which regenerates.
| 1740 Waterland Regeneration Wks. 1823 VI. 352 He is not his own regenerator, or parent, at all, in his new birth. 1844 Mem. Babylonian P'cess II. 205 She expected a regenerator of the world, or second Messias. 1861 May Const. Hist. viii. (1863) II. 10 He at once became the regenerator and leader of the Tory party. |
2. Mech. A fuel-saving device attached to a furnace, consisting of layers of fire-brick which, becoming heated by the hot air and gases from the furnace, impart the heat to an incoming current of cold air or combustible gas acting alternately with the outgoing current. Also attrib.
| 1835 J. Malam in Lond. Jrnl. Arts & Sc. (1836) VIII. 144 A front elevation of three retorts, with their ‘regenerators’ and conducting pipes. 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 335 Using the Siemens producer and regenerators if necessary. 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 748/2 Regenerator Furnace. 1897 Daily News 22 Sept. 6/7 The Regenerator system of gas burning. |
b. transf. in Electr. (See quot.)
| 1873 Maxwell Electr. & Magn. (1881) I. 299 This conductor, by which the carrier is enabled to be connected to earth without a spark, answers to the contrivance called a Regenerator in heat-engines. We shall therefore call it a Regenerator. |