ˈafter-ˌburner
Also afterburner.
[f. next.]
1. An auxiliary burner fitted to the exhaust-pipe of a turbo-jet engine to increase its thrust.
| 1947 Air Reserve Gazette Oct. 405/1 An after burner is a thrust augmentor which is, in effect, the turning of the jet pipe into an auxiliary ram-jet engine. 1948 Sci. News Let. 22 May 323/3 The afterburner being installed is a cylindrical device eight feet long which is attached on the exhaust nozzle of the Westinghouse turbo-jet engine which powers this plane. 1955 Times 30 Aug. 11/3 Afterburner, or reheat, systems provide a means of augmenting the thrust of jet engines by burning additional fuel in the jet pipe. |
2. An auxiliary burner in a flue, exhaust pipe, etc., designed to burn any remaining combustible waste gases.
| 1956 Proc. Amer. Soc. Civil Engineers LXXXII. mcxvi. 2 An afterburner was designed to provide a favorable reaction zone for the completion of the oxidation of hydrocarbons in the exhaust. 1960 [see zoom n. 1]. 1962 Spectator 28 Dec. 987/1 Perhaps afterburners will also eliminate an even more sinister product than carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and the rest from vehicle exhausts. 1973 Times 12 Nov. 29/2 Stench from the Philite factory..has been eliminated by passing the waste gas through after burners. 1979 Business Week (Industr. ed.) 22 Oct. 80/3 In 1964 all major U.S. car manufacturers informed AMF that they would not use the afterburner. |