Carburettor

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A mechanism that combines air and fuel into a vapor for effective combustion in engines
2. An instrument utilized to ensure the proper mixture of fuel and air for maximizing engine power and efficiency
3. A device that mixes air with gasoline to create a combustible vapor for internal combustion engines

Etymology: The carburettor is named for a process that predates the car by decades. In the 1860s, "carburet" was a chemists' verb meaning to enrich an illuminating gas by mixing it with carbon-rich fuel, so that it burned brighter. The word was first recorded in 1862 in that sense, long before anyone had a use for it in an engine. Its ending, "-or", marks a device or agent, so a carburettor was originally a thing that carburets. The word moved to the motor vehicle around 1896, when engineers needed a name for the component that mixed petrol vapour with air before it reached the cylinders. The job was the same as in the gas works: add carbon-rich fuel to a gas so it would burn well. Only the gas had changed, from coal gas for lamps to air for engines.

Synonyms: carburetor, fuel mixer, intake device, air-fuel mixer, engine component