Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
rotor [roh-ter] ExamplesWord Origin noun
- Electricity. a rotating member of a machine.Compare stator(def 1).
- Aeronautics. a system of rotating airfoils, as the horizontal ones of a helicopter or of the compressor of a jet engine.
- any of a number of tall, cylindrical devices mounted on a special ship (rotor ship) and rotated in such a way that the Magnus effect of wind impinging on the cylinders is used to drive and maneuver the vessel.
- (in a self-winding watch) a weight eccentrically mounted on an arbor for keeping the mainspring wound.
Origin of rotor First recorded in 1873; short for rotator Examples from the Web for rotor Contemporary Examples of rotor
So serious is this heat that it can distort a major APUS engine component, the rotor shaft, and cause significant damage.
Planes in Flames: Why Does It Keep Happening?
Clive Irving
July 15, 2013
Historical Examples of rotor
These dummy pistons are shown at the near end of the rotor in Fig. 35.
Hubert E. Collins
In this A is the cylinder or casing, B the spindle or rotor, and C the blades.
Hubert E. Collins
The rotor of a variometer or variocoupler is a rotating coil.
A. Frederick Collins
There are rings of blades round the rotor, tightly fixed to its surface.
Thomas W. Corbin
Then you ask Tom to send a plane back to drop off my cap and rotor.
Harold Leland Goodwin
British Dictionary definitions for rotor rotor noun
- the rotating member of a machine or device, esp the armature of a motor or generator or the rotating assembly of a turbineCompare stator
- a device having blades radiating from a central hub that is rotated to produce thrust to lift and propel a helicopter
- the revolving arm of the distributor of an internal-combustion engine
- a violent rolling wave of air occurring in the lee of a mountain or hill, in which the air rotates about a horizontal axis
Word Origin for rotor C20: shortened form of rotator Word Origin and History for rotor n.
1873, irregular shortening of rotator (see rotate (v.)), originally in mathematics. Mechanical sense is attested from 1903; specifically of helicopters from 1930.