accumulator

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One that accumulates: an accumulator of old magazines.
2. n. A register or electric circuit in a calculator or computer, in which the results of arithmetical and logical operations are formed.
3. n. Chiefly British An automobile storage battery.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. One who or that which gathers, accumulates, or amasses.
2. n. One who takes university degrees by accumulation (which see).
3. n. Anything used for collecting and storing energy, etc. Specifically, in mech.: An india-rubber spring serving for the storage of energy to be utilized for lifting and other purposes. An elastic section of a dredge-line, so placed as to prevent a sudden breaking strain. An apparatus used principally in connection with hydraulic machines as an equalizer of pressure, or for the accumulation of energy to be expended intermittently, as in hydraulic cranes, elevators, riveters, etc. It consists of a cylinder fitted with a plunger, having at its upper end a cross-head or cap, to which are secured the weights necessary for the desired pressure. The water forced into the cylinder raises the plunger, whose weight, reacting upon the water, transmits this pressure to the operating machinery. The total force, less friction, which can be expended is measured by the product of the weight of the plunger and its load into the distance traversed by it. The joint capacity of the force-pumps which supply the cylinder is such as will, by continuous running, accumulate in the cylinder during periods of inaction an amount equal to that expended during a maximum effort. In another form, called the hydropneumatic accumulator, the water within the cylinder compresses air, which reacts upon it, thus serving as a substitute for the weights.
4. n. In electricity: A condenser (which see). A storage battery (which see, under battery).

Wiktionary

1. n. One who, or that which, accumulates.
2. n. UK A wet-cell storage battery.
3. n. gambling A collective bet on successive events, with both stake and winnings being carried forward to accumulate progressively.
4. n. mechanics A system of elastic springs for relieving the strain upon a rope, as in deep-sea dredging.
5. n. manufacturing A vessel containing pressurized hot water ready for release as steam.
6. n. engineering, hydraulics A container which stores hydraulic power for release, in the form of pressurized fluid (often suspended within a larger tank of fluid under pressure).
7. n. computer science A register in a calculator or computer used for holding the intermediate results of a computation or data transfer.
8. n. finance A derivative contract under which the seller commits to sell shares of an underlying security at a certain strike price, which the buyer is obligated to buy.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. One who, or that which, accumulates, collects, or amasses.
2. n. (Mech.) An apparatus by means of which energy or power can be stored, such as the cylinder or tank for storing water for hydraulic elevators, the secondary or storage battery used for accumulating the energy of electrical charges, etc.
3. n. A system of elastic springs for relieving the strain upon a rope, as in deep-sea dredging.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. (computer science) a register that has a built-in adder that adds an input number to the contents of the register
2. n. a person who is employed to collect payments (as for rent or taxes)
3. n. a voltaic battery that stores electric charge