Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having alternating currents of two different frequencies that are combined to produce two new frequencies, the sum and difference of the original frequencies, either of which may be used in radio or television receivers by proper tuning or filtering.
  • transitive verb To combine (a radio-frequency wave) with a locally generated wave of different frequency in order to produce a new frequency equal to the sum or difference of the two.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, two oscillations, having two slightly different frequencies such that, when combined, they produce a beat
  • noun The beat so produced
  • noun Either the sum or difference of the two oscillations
  • verb To produce heterodyne interference in a radio
  • verb To change the frequency of a signal by such a process

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to the beat produced by heterodyning two oscillations
  • verb combine (a radio frequency wave) with a locally generated wave of a different frequency so as to produce a new frequency equal to the sum or the difference between the two

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[hetero– + -dyne, power, frequency (from Greek dunamis, power; see dynamic).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

hetero- + -dyne

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Examples

  • Infrared heterodyne spectroscopy, such as that provided by the Heterodyne Instrument for Planetary Wind and Composition (HIPWAC), provides the only direct access to ozone on Mars with ground-based telescopes; the very high spectral resolving power (greater than 1 million) allows Martian ozone spectral features to be resolved when they are Doppler shifted away from ozone lines of terrestrial origin.

    Ozone on Mars: Two Windows Better Than One | Universe Today 2010

  • An energy center is at work in the tube, and its radiations are projected along a carrier beam that is of ultra-violet frequency and so adjusted as to heterodyne the Destinn wave.

    "Power" by Harl Vincent, part 10 Johnny Pez 2010

  • Already in 1924, the Times made a technological leap by investing in a super-heterodyne receiver, which allowed it to receive direct transmissions of reports from Europe and positioned the Times as the best place in the US to get news about the rest of the world.

    Ashley Rindsberg: Where Is The New York Times Going? 2009

  • He was a young radio pioneer, and when Sarnoff and Armstrong were both very young men, Armstrong invented something called the -- called the feedback circuit, the heterodyne circuit, which allowed radio signals to be broadcast and received over greater distances than ever before.

    The Boy Genius and the Mogul: The Untold Story of Television 2002

  • The thyristor ignition set is an electronic heterodyne ignition set and consists of various semiconductor elements as well as of a pulse transformer.

    6. Operating Components for Discharge Lamps Frank Ponemunski 1991

  • A screen worn on the head will heterodyne the outgoing radiation in a random fashion, make it absolutely undecipherable.

    A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1974

  • Your own electrodynamic characteristics have been analyzed; I am sorry to say that it will now be necessary to heterodyne your normal senses. '

    The Past Through Tomorrow Heinlein, Robert A. 1967

  • Appalling sounds come from one end of each-in which they heterodyne each other-and even more appalling conditions prevail at the other ends.

    Podkayne Of Mars Heinlein, Robert A. 1963

  • It wasn't friction that made the squeal, but a heterodyne of vibrations from the generators that drove the car.

    Starchild Omnibus Pohl, Frederik & Williamson, Jack 1963

  • There had been time for the reply, but still that maddening heterodyne whistle came unbroken from the speaker.

    The Sands of Mars Clarke, Arthur C. 1951

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