Used attributively to designate certain apparatus invented by Ferranti, and a phenomenon first observed in connection with the high-voltage cables…

a rectifier consisting of one or more graphite or iron anodes and a mercury pool cathode enclosed in an evacuated envelope.

= mercury arc rectifier n.

A type of low-voltage discharge tube filled with argon and having a heated cathode of thoriated tungsten, used as a rectifier for currents of a…