rectifiern.
/ˈrɛktᵻfʌɪə/, U.S. /ˈrɛktəˌfaɪər/ 1. An instrument for indicating the variation of a compass (variation n. 5), consisting of two concentric circles, one fixed and the other turnable, marked with the points of the compass. Now historical and rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > navigational aids > [noun] > compass > variation > instrument for ascertaining variation
rectifier1594
1594 T. Blundeville Exercises vi. xli. f. 339 Cogniet calleth this instrument Rectificatorium Stellæ Polaris, that is to say, the Rectifier of the North starre.
1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. ii. vi. 68 To know the Variation by the Quadrant.., without the help of the Rectifier before spoken of.
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I Rectifier (in Navigation,) is an instrument consisting of two Parts, which are two Circles, either laid upon, or let into the other, and so fastned together in their Centres, that they represent two Compasses.
1774 S. Dunn New & Gen. Introd. Pract. Astron. 81 The variation of all the points of the magnetic horizon from the true horizon, will be shewn by inspection; such an instrument is commonly called a rectifier.
2000 G. L'E. Turner Elizabethan Instrument Makers ii. 206 The side with the hour scale can be used as a nocturnal, and the other side as the rectifier of the Pole Star.
2. gen. A person who or (occasionally) thing which rectifies or corrects something.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > amending > [noun] > one who or that which
corrector1377
mendera1382
physiciana1398
amenderc1405
redresserc1449
corrigiour1474
repairer?1504
redressc1530
remeder1535
righter1566
rectifier1607
redressor1643
corrective1768
renovator1827
readjuster1850
Mr Fixit1924
fixer-upper1932
1607 H. Alleyn Double Almanacke & Prognostication for 1607 (title page) The first rectified (chiefly) for the latitude and meridian of the auncient burroughtown of Horsham in Sussex, (the place where the rectifier here of was borne).
1617 S. Collins Epphata to F. T. i. i. 97 Chrysostome..attributes as much to him, to be rector or rectifyer, as he there speakes, of the whole world.
1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. ii. 105 He was..Rectifier of Wry Law, And would make three, to cure one flaw.
1741 W. Warburton Divine Legation Moses II. 639 I shall examine this bold Rectifier of prejudices.
1781 H. Cowley Belle's Stratagem v. i. 66 The patroness of genius! the rectifier of wit!
1834 J. B. Buckstone May Queen i. i. 18 Caleb Pipkin, surgeon of sauce-pans, rectifier of ancient brass kettles.
1882 C. H. Spurgeon Treasury of David VI. Ps. cxix. 1 They do not consult it now and then as a sort of rectifier of their wanderings, but they use it as a chart for their daily sailing.
1928 N. Douglas Old Calabria xxxiii. 373 In Cosenza I saw a play of which he was the leading figure, depicted as a..friend of the fatherless, champion of widows and orphans, rectifier of all wrongs.
1994 C. McWilliam Debatable Land (1995) ii. 50 She was a mistake maker, also a mistake rectifier, but the sea does not allow for mistakes.
3.
a. A person who distils or rectifies spirit (rectify v. 3a); esp. a person who redistils a spirit, sometimes with the addition of other substances, to refine, strengthen, or flavour it; (also) a company that carries out such a process.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [noun] > chemical reactions or processes (named) > distillation > one who rectifies spirit
rectifier1725
1725 D. Defoe Compl. Eng. Tradesman I. vi. 71 I would warn..a distiller or rectifier of spirits to moderate his furnace.
1731 P. Shaw Three Ess. Artific. Philos. 115 When the Rectifier..performs his part masterly, the Spirit receives considerable improvement.
1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang 102 Deady's, a drop of Gin,—so called after the rectifier's name in reality, without slangery.
1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 467/1 In England in 1835 there were 108 rectifiers.
1880 Act 43 & 44 Vict. c. 24 §86 Entry must be made by a rectifier before he begins to receive, rectify, or compound any spirit.
1905 Daily Chron. 10 Feb. 9/2 (advt.) Cooper required by a firm of London rectifiers.
1935 Evening Sun (Baltimore) 21 May 18/5 The rectifiers financed the cost of aging, and took charge of blending the whisky and preparing it for the consumer.
2000 BusinessWorld (Philippines) (Nexis) 27 Jan. 2 The present tax rates imposed on manufacturers, assemblers, repackers, processors, brewers, distillers, rectifiers and compounders of liquors, distilled spirits and wines will increase.
b. Chemistry. An apparatus for purifying or refining a substance, esp. spirit, by distillation. Cf. rectify v. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > equipment or apparatus > [noun] > miscellaneous apparatus
bain1477
speculum1650
filtering paper1651
wheel-fire1662
filter paper1670
sun furnace1763
respirator1789
candle-ball1794
rectifier1822
candle-bomb1823
filter1823
oxyhydrogen blowpipe1823
shade1837
graduator1839
pipette1839
thistle funnel1849
pressure tube1852
ozonizer1858
dialyser1861
Liebig condenser1861
Sprengel pump1866
Sprengel tube1866
water softener1867
mercury pump1869
Bunsen burner1870
dialysator1877
test-mixer1877
tube-condenser1877
Kipp1879
reflux condenser1880
policeman1888
converter1889
pressure boiler1891
spot plate1896
hydrogen electrode1898
sampler1902
reactor1903
fume-chamber1905
Permutit1910
microburner1911
salt bridge1915
precipitator1919
Raschig ring1920
microneedle1921
titrator1928
laboratory coatc1936
spray tower1937
precipitron1938
ion exchanger1941
potentiostat1942
chemostat1950
Knudsen pipette1951
pH-stat1956
cryopump1958
1822 Edinb. Philos. Jrnl. 7 214 At first he used the thermometer merely for comparing the temperature of the interior of the rectifier, with that of the water placed about it.
1854 E. Ronalds & T. Richardson Knapp's Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 287 The upper part forming a heater for the wash, while the lower compartment acts as a rectifier.
1960 B.S.I. News Apr. 9/2 Ammonia is driven off in the form of a vapour to the rectifier where any water vapour is condensed.
2004 C. P. Shaw Whisky (new ed.) 29 The wash passes into the first column, the rectifier, in a coiled pipe running through its length.
4. A device through which electric current can flow in only one direction; spec. one for converting alternating current into direct current. Also in extended use in Physiology (cf. rectification n. 4b).controlled, junction, mercury arc, semiconductor rectifier: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > action of nervous system > [noun] > reception or transmission of impulses > transmitters
rectifier1895
transmitter1930
sympathin1931
noradrenaline1932
neurohumour1933
substance P1934
norepinephrine1937
neurohormone1939
neurosecretion1956
neurophysin1958
vasoactive intestinal (poly)peptide1958
neurotransmitter1961
VIP1972
neuropeptide1973
the world > life > the body > nervous system > nerve > parts of nerves > [noun] > other membranes
Henle's sheath1853
rectifier1895
mesaxon1955
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electricity in living organisms > [noun] > membrane as conductor
rectifier1895
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electrical engineering > rectifier > [noun]
rectifier1895
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > [noun] > rectifier
rectifier1895
metal rectifier1927
phanotron1931
ignitron1933
squarer1965
1895 Electrician 9 Aug. 488/1 An efficiency of 96 per cent. is claimed for the rectifier.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 835/1 A common type of rectifier is another tube containing gas at a low pressure.
1941 K. S. Cole & H. J. Curtis in Jrnl. Gen. Physiol. 24 563 The membrane was found to be an excellent rectifier with a ratio of about one hundred between the high resistance at the anode and the low resistance at the cathode.
1953 F. G. Spreadbury Design Electronic Measuring Instruments 84 On the right-hand side..the air-core transformer and small rectifier valve will be noted.
1998 Jrnl. Physiol. 506 303 Eosinophils were found to have as few as three, and on average twenty, inward rectifier channels each.
2007 Sensors & Actuators A. 133 275/2 An integrated CMOS fullwave rectifier used to rectify the received RF signal and convert it into DC is shown.
5. A device for preparing a plan view from an oblique aerial photograph, by optical or other means. Cf. rectify v. 13.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > photographic processes > processing and printing equipment > [noun] > other processing or printing equipment
filter paper1670
buffer1854
fuming-box1874
squeegee1878
light trap1881
changing table1882
print-washer1889
washer1891
safe lamp1893
rectifier1921
apron1935
register board1967
1921 Geogr. Jrnl. 57 141 The construction of the photographic ‘rectifier’..embodies some curious properties of the lens with a flat field.
1962 Photogrammetric Rec. 4 84 The great increase in setting accuracy and definition available in the SEG V (and other modern rectifiers).
2003 R. P. Gupta Remote Sensing Geol. (ed. 2) vii. 153 The scale of photographs or images can be suitably altered by a variety of projection equipment, such as a photographic enlarger and rectifier.
Compounds
rectifier cell n. a cell that rectifies an electric current passing through it; spec. a photovoltaic cell.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > voltage > photovoltaics > [noun] > photocell
photoelectric cell1890
photoscope1890
photocell1891
rectifier cell1906
photronic1932
solar battery1954
cell1955
solar cell1955
1906 U.S. Patent 830,924 1/1 A characteristic feature of the rectifier-cell..consists in that the layer between the two electrodes is formed of hemisulfid of copper.
1932 Jrnl. Sci. Instruments 9 369 The most striking advance in the last three years is the development of a new type of cell, which the Germans call Sperrschicht; we shall call it the ‘rectifier’ cell.
1972 Jrnl. Physics E 5 145/2 The designer's preference for a CdS cell (over a selenium rectifier cell) was no doubt influenced by its high sensitivity.
2005 Analog Integrated Circuits & Signal Processing 42 199/2 The input current is split into its positive and negative parts by a precision rectifier cell.
rectifier photocell n. (nowrare) a photovoltaic cell.
ΚΠ
1935 Jrnl. Sci. Instruments 12 144 The rectifier photocell is such a simple device, and gives such excellent results that the use of the emission type cell with its attendant batteries has received little attention.
1963 J. K. Stanley Electr. & Magn. Properties Metals iv. 174 The photoelectric yield and quantum yield of rectifier photocells are much greater than those for photoelectrically emitting surfaces used in vacuum and gas-filled phototubes.
2002 B. S. Baigrie Hist. Mod. Sci. & Math. IV. 38/2 At the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in England, trials with photocells in the 1920s and subsequently with the simpler selenium rectifier photocells led to their adoption as an ICES standard in 1938.
rectifier photoelectric cell n. rare a photovoltaic cell.
ΚΠ
1934 Jrnl. Marine Biol. Assoc. U.K. 19 727 (title) The use of a selenium rectifier photo-electric cell for submarine photometry.
1936 Nature 23 May 862/1 The introduction of the various forms of rectifier photo-electric cell has certainly simplified many problems in the use of instruments such as colorimeters (chemical type).
1961 J. S. Rogers Physics for Med. Students (ed. 4) xiv. 192 To detect 2,537 Å radiation a zinc silicate phosphor is used in conjunction with a rectifier photoelectric cell.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1594