Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A continuously variable electrical resistor used to regulate current.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In electromagnetism, an instrument for regulating lating or adjusting a circuit so that any required degree of resistance may be maintained; a resistance-coil. See resistance, 3.
Wiktionary
- n. An electrical resistor, with two terminals, whose resistance is continuously variable by moving a knob or slider.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Elec.) A contrivance for adjusting or regulating the strength of electrical currents, operating usually by the intercalation of resistance which can be varied at will.
WordNet 3.0
- n. resistor for regulating current
Etymologies
- From rheo- + -stat. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The rheostat, which is in the right part of the figure, has five sliding contacts, each of which can be connected with ten different points.”
Respiration Calorimeters for Studying the Respiratory Exchange and Energy Transformations of Man
“Fan switching is relatively easy however RPM control is not, for this you needed called a rheostat baybus.”
“More recently a new "rheostat" model argues that the responsiveness of each NK cell is tuned by the input of inhibitory receptors”
“Dr. Wang, with CUMC's Dr. Shigeo Takaishi, and their colleagues, argue that gastrin may serve as a "rheostat" for the stomach.”
“rheostat' when the regulatory mechanism operates in a graduated, or quantitative, manner.”
“You just dial this thing up to speed like you're turning up the ceiling-fan rheostat.”
The Wall Street Journal: BMW 640i: For the All-Business Person
“The rest of the lights on the instrument panel are working fine, so it isn't just that the rheostat is turned down.”
“Since you can't find food in the dark -- in fact, it's more likely you'd become food -- melatonin acts as a rheostat that lowers body temperature during NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) sleep in order to slow metabolic processes and stave off hunger.”
The Huffington Post: T.S. Wiley: Can Sleep Loss Destroy Your Immune System?
“The second packet stirred almost no reaction in me, and then I started to feel flat and numb -- a sign my emotional rheostat was dimming off to protect me from the pain of what it would mean if I didn't connect with the last donor profile laying on the table.”
“He found he could vary its buoyancy by manipulating the rheostat and thus regulate the speed of ascent.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘rheostat’.
-
Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
-
Collected Words - List 2
I've been saving these words FOR YEARS. Now, I've found Wordie
gasconade, zaccheus, spoor, precentor, bombazine, otiose, khamsin, bruited, viva voce, whilom, lenitive, ebullition and 244 more...
-
IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
-
phrontistery-r
from phrontistery.info
rya, rutilant, ruthful, rutherford, ruth, rusticity, rusticate, Russophobia, Russophile, russet, russel, rushlight and 514 more...
-
Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 516 more...
-
It's Electric!
I get a charge out of these words.
galvanometer, acierage, actino-electricity, agometer, amperage, ampere, antilogous, cataphoric, ceraunics, coulomb, cymaphen, deflagrator and 40 more...
-
Words with bite
Words that relate to the teeth, mouth or dentistry in general.
cingulum, furcation, rheostat, velum, mesiobuccal, distobuccal, mesiolingual, distolingual, incisal, occlusal, morsal, labial and 40 more...
-
-stat
things that check or hold in place
rheostat, coelostat, siderostat, heliostat, hemostat, thermostat, aerostat, cryostat, photostat, chemostat, vorinostat, orthostat and 7 more...
-
-stat
denoting instruments, etc., maintaining a controlled state
-
Infinite Jest
Words taken from Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
prorector, monograph, post-fourier, snuffle, rototremble, creatus, enfilade, subanimalistic, balletic, espadrilles, leonine, cirri and 1153 more...
-
Time for a new list!
abrupt, erupt, rupture, sync, appropinquity, heterochromia, homochromatic, monochromatic, willy nilly, nitty gritty, kowtow, wonton and 455 more...
-
Faintheart's Words
onomatopoeia, no, terrafactive, word, faint, heart, joy, quixotic, karla, half, amp, tardis and 181 more...
-
Infinite Jest
Words to remember from DFW's "Infinite Jest"
wen, matriculation, circumflex, lapidary, effete, sotto, hypertrophy, presbyopic, ideogram, pinion, parquet, nelson and 152 more...
-
artoparts's Words
illation, finite, edify, abide, abrade, vouch, amiss, vociferate, perusing, techantiquery, rigamarole, holon and 615 more...
-
Oblivion
By David Foster Wallace
ossify, reverie, hypergeometric, emetic, mien, cruciform, accreted, perpend, rheostat, predilections, coccyx, hirsute and 178 more...
-
State Spelling Bee 2011
Words from the California State Spelling Bee in 2011, from which I got fourth place.
cymbidium, jurisprudence, entourage, cauterize, dressage, roux, pomaceous, malfeasance, jactitation, eclogue, caryotid, obloquy and 126 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for rheostat.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.