Carbureter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A device in an internal combustion engine that mixes liquid fuel with air in the correct proportions before it enters the cylinders
2. A mechanical component that blends petrol or gasoline with incoming air so the engine can burn it efficiently
3. An engine part that vaporizes and mixes fuel into an air stream, preparing the combustible mixture for ignition

Etymology: The "carbureter" spelling is an older form of "carburetor," and the device it names began life in gas lighting rather than in engines. Attested from 1862, the word was built from "carburet," a verb meaning to enrich an illuminating gas with carbon-rich fuel, so that the gas burned with a brighter flame. The suffix "-or" marks an apparatus or agent, so a carbureter was originally a machine that carbureted gas. The motor vehicle sense came later, with the first recorded use in 1896, when the same principle was applied to liquid fuel. A carburetor draws air across petrol and mixes the two into a vapour an engine can burn. The gas-lighting origin is still visible in the verb, which once described infusing gas with carbon, and in the device itself, which turns liquid fuel into the same kind of carbon-rich mixture.

Synonyms: carburetor, carburettor