Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who or that which perforates, bores, or pierces.
  • noun The keyboard of the monotype type-setting and -casting machine; more precisely, the mechanism of the monotype keyboard which perforates the paper ribbon so that it will control the movements of the casting mechanism.
  • noun In archaeology, a small chipped stone implement with a rather long and slender point and usually a broad base, supposed to have been used for drilling or boring holes. The name is also sometimes applied to other implements which have been evidently used for making holes, such as bone awls, etc.
  • noun A device for rapidly producing the perforations of a tape corresponding to the Morse code of signals and used in machine telegraphy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who, or that which, perforates; esp., a cephalotome.

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

  • noun A tool or machine that makes holes, or perforates, materials such as paper and card.
  • noun A machine that can bore a tunnel underground.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • This was done in a special machine of Edison's invention, called a perforator, consisting of a series of punches operated by a bank of keys -- typewriter fashion.

    Edison, His Life and Inventions, vol. 2 1910

  • This was done in a special machine of Edison's invention, called a perforator, consisting of a series of punches operated by a bank of keys -- typewriter fashion.

    Edison, His Life and Inventions Frank Lewis Dyer 1905

  • The view Fig. 52 shows the "perforator" and the tamping apparatus at work.

    Concrete Construction Methods and Costs Halbert Powers Gillette

  • The piles are constructed by first ramming a hole in the ground by repeatedly dropping a conical "perforator" weighing some two tons.

    Concrete Construction Methods and Costs Halbert Powers Gillette

  • He brought out two huge files and a perforator and proceeded to show us how to make holes with it and how to file our papers.

    Nomad Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2010

  • He brought out two huge files and a perforator and proceeded to show us how to make holes with it and how to file our papers.

    Nomad Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2010

  • He brought out two huge files and a perforator and proceeded to show us how to make holes with it and how to file our papers.

    Nomad Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2010

  • A newer version of the flap–tummy tuck method is called DIEP reconstruction deep inferior epigastric perforator reconstruction, which uses the same fatty tissue from the tummy but leaves your abdominal muscles intact.

    The 10 Best Questions Dede Bonner 2008

  • A newer version of the flap–tummy tuck method is called DIEP reconstruction deep inferior epigastric perforator reconstruction, which uses the same fatty tissue from the tummy but leaves your abdominal muscles intact.

    The 10 Best Questions Dede Bonner 2008

  • Two lanceolate basalt points and a slate perforator (Tom Dillehay) [LARGERIMAGE]

    Monte Verde Under Fire 1999

Comments

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  • "This, in some animals, e. g., the salamander, is prolonged into a barbed spear-like process or perforator, which probably facilitates the entrance of the spermatozoön into the ovum."

    - Henry Gray, 'Anatomy of the Human Body'.

    September 20, 2009