interrupter

English

Etymology

interrupt +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

interrupter (plural interrupters)

1. One who or that which interrupts.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     The interrupter bowed, smiled, stroked his beard, and relapsed into his chair.

2. A device for opening and closing an electrical circuit.
3. (slang, humorous) An interpreter (person who interprets speech in a foreign language).
   • 2005, Ian Oliver, Jan Oliver, War and Peace in the Balkans:

     The other half of the local staff was employed as interpreters, often affectionately known as 'interrupters.'

   • 2017, Dean Bailey, Crawling Out of Hell: The True Story of a British Sniper's Greatest Battle:

     The Coldstream Guards were already in place and knocked on the door. Daz Farrugia stood at the door with the Iraqi interrupter. […] The door opened and a middle aged Iraqi man stood there in his pajamas, gobbing off in Arabic, saying who knows what, but I guessed it was not very complimentary; the interpreter managed to calm him down.

Derived terms

• opto-interrupter
• interrupter gear

Translations

One who or that which interrupts

• Bulgarian: смутител (bg) m (smutitel)
• Galician: estripacontos
• Spanish: interrumpidor m

A device for opening and closing an electrical circuit

• Bulgarian: прекъсвач (bg) m (prekǎsvač)
• Spanish: interruptor (es) m
• Tagalog: panggatol

References

• “interrupter”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “interrupter”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• reinterrupt