Accelerator

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /əkˈsɛl.əˌɹeɪ.tɚ/

Definitions

1. A control in a vehicle used to increase engine power and speed ; a device or mechanism designed to increase the speed or rate of a process or action
2. The pedal or lever that a driver presses to make a vehicle go faster ; an instrument that causes acceleration in machinery, reactions, or activities
3. An apparatus in vehicles that regulates power output for faster movement ; a tool or system that quickens the pace or intensity of an operation or event

Etymology: The accelerator in a car is named after a process that was described for centuries before anyone attached it to an engine. The word traces back to Latin "celer", meaning "swift", which gave rise to "accelerare", "to hasten" (built from "ad", "to", plus "celer"). English first recorded "accelerator" in 1611, long before motor vehicles existed, when it meant something that speeds things up in general. Its use for the foot pedal that controls a car's engine speed is much later, first attested in 1900. The word is formed in English from "accelerate", itself borrowed from Latin, plus the agent suffix "-or", which English took through Old French and Middle English. So the term describes simply the thing that does the accelerating. The motor-car sense is a narrowing of that general meaning to one device, rather than a new coinage.

Synonyms: gas pedal, throttle