Word Meanings - COMMUTATOR - Book Publishers vocabulary database

A piece of apparatus used for reversing the direction of an electrical current; an attachment to certain electrical machines, by means of which alternating currents are made to be continuous or to have the same direction.

Related words: (words related to COMMUTATOR)

• REVERSED
  Annulled and the contrary substituted; as, a reversed judgment or decree. Reversed positive or negative , a picture corresponding with the original in light and shade, but reversed as to right and left. Abney. (more info) 1. Turned side for side,
• REVERSION
  The returning of an esttate to the grantor or his heirs, by operation of law, after the grant has terminated; hence, the residue of an estate left in the proprietor or owner thereof, to take effect in possession, by operation of law, after
• ALTERNATING CURRENT
  A current which periodically changes or reverses its direction of flow.
• ALTERNATION
  Permutation. 3. The response of the congregation speaking alternately with the minister. Mason. Alternation of generation. See under Generation. (more info) 1. The reciprocal succession of things in time or place; the act of following and being
• REVERSIS
  A certain game at cards.
• ALTERNAT
  A usage, among diplomats, of rotation in precedence among representatives of equal rank, sometimes determined by lot and at other times in regular order. The practice obtains in the signing of treaties and conventions between nations.
• PIECER
  1. One who pieces; a patcher. 2. A child employed in spinning mill to tie together broken threads.
• REVERSIONER
  One who has a reversion, or who is entitled to lands or tenements, after a particular estate granted is terminated. Blackstone.
• WHICHEVER; WHICHSOEVER
  Whether one or another; whether one or the other; which; that one which; as, whichever road you take, it will lead you to town.
• CONTINUOUSLY
  In a continuous maner; without interruption. -- Con*tin"u*ous*ness, n.
• PIECEMEALED
  Divided into pieces.
• ALTERNATENESS
  The quality of being alternate, or of following by turns.
• ALTERNATIVENESS
  The quality of being alternative, or of offering a choice between two.
• REVERSIBLE
  1. Capable of being reversed; as, a chair or seat having a reversible back; a reversible judgment or sentence. 2. Hence, having a pattern or finished surface on both sides, so that either may be used; -- said of fabrics. Reversible lock, a lock
• PIECEMEAL
  1. In pieces; in parts or fragments. "On which it piecemeal brake." Chapman. The beasts will tear thee piecemeal. Tennyson. 2. Piece by piece; by little and little in succession. Piecemeal they win, this acre first, than that. Pope.
• CERTAINTY
  Clearness; freedom from ambiguity; lucidity. Of a certainty, certainly. (more info) 1. The quality, state, or condition, of being certain. The certainty of punishment is the truest security against crimes. Fisher Ames. 2. A fact or truth
• WHICH
  the root of hwa who + lic body; hence properly, of what sort or kind; akin to OS. hwilik which, OFries. hwelik, D. welk, G. welch, OHG. welih, hwelih, Icel. hvilikr, Dan. & Sw. hvilken, Goth. hwileiks, 1. Of what sort or kind; what; what a; who.
• REVERSEDLY
  In a reversed way.
• ALTERNATIVE
  1. Offering a choice of two things. 2. Disjunctive; as, an alternative conjunction. 3. Alternate; reciprocal. Holland.
• PIECELESS
  Not made of pieces; whole; entire.
• DIRECT CURRENT
  A current flowing in one direction only; -- distinguished from alternating current. When steady and not pulsating a direct current is often called a continuous current. A direct induced current, or momentary current of the same direction as the
• JAPAN CURRENT
  A branch of the equatorial current of the Pacific, washing the eastern coast of Formosa and thence flowing northeastward past Japan and merging into the easterly drift of the North Pacific; -- called also Kuro-Siwo, or Black Stream, in allusion
• ASCERTAINMENT
  The act of ascertaining; a reducing to certainty; a finding out by investigation; discovery. The positive ascertainment of its limits. Burke.
• SPARPIECE
  The collar beam of a roof; the spanpiece. Gwilt.
• PHASING CURRENT
  The momentary current between two alternating-current generators when juxtaposed in parallel and not agreeing exactly in phase or period.
• ASCERTAINABLE
  That may be ascertained. -- As`cer*tain"a*ble*ness, n. -- As`cer*tain"a*bly, adv.
• PERCURRENT
  Running through the entire length.
• DRIFTPIECE
  An upright or curved piece of timber connecting the plank sheer with the gunwale; also, a scroll terminating a rail.
• SUBALTERNATE
  1. Succeeding by turns; successive. 2. Subordinate; subaltern; inferior. All their subalternate and several kinds. Evelyn.
• CODPIECE
  A part of male dress in front of the breeches, formerly made very conspicuous. Shak. Fosbroke.
• UNCERTAINTY
  1. The quality or state of being uncertain. 2. That which is uncertain; something unknown. Our shepherd's case is every man's case that quits a moral certainty for an uncertainty. L'Estrange.
• SNEAK CURRENT
  A current which, though too feeble to blow the usual fuse or to injure at once telegraph or telephone instruments, will in time burn them out.