Acclimatisers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A device or individual that helps organisms adjust to new environmental conditions or climates
2. A type of apparatus designed to facilitate adaptation to temperature, humidity, or pressure changes
3. A person or mechanism that assists in the gradual acclimatization of people or animals to unfamiliar settings or climates

Etymology: The plural of "acclimatiser" is "acclimatisers", so its history is that of "acclimatise" plus the agent suffix "-er", which turns a verb into a noun for someone or something that performs the action. An acclimatiser is therefore anything that does the acclimatising: a person, a device, or a process that gets a living thing used to new conditions. The verb "acclimatise" is itself built from "acclimate", with the British spelling "-ise" in place of the American "-ate" ending. Both verbs describe the process of becoming accustomed to a climate, and the "climate" at their heart comes from Greek "klima", meaning a slope or inclination, from the idea that the sun's angle to the earth varies with latitude. The word therefore rests on an ancient geographical notion of zones tilted toward the sun.