Incinerator

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A specialized machine that operates by burning refuse at high heat to convert it into ash, thereby minimizing waste volume and hazardous materials
2. A machine designed to burn garbage and waste materials thoroughly until reduced to ash
3. An apparatus that destroys refuse by subjecting it to intense heat, leaving minimal residue

Etymology: "Incinerator" is built from "incinerate" plus the agent suffix "-or", so the machine is literally the thing that does the incinerating. The verb "incinerate" comes from Latin "incinerare," meaning to reduce to ashes, formed from "in-" and "cinis," the Latin word for ash. That root is also behind "cinder" and "incinerate" itself, so the word is tied to the ordinary business of what a fire leaves behind. The suffix has a longer path. The "-or" ending descends from Latin "-tor," which marked a person or thing that performs an action, and it reached English through Old French "-eor" and Middle English "-our." English later reshaped that ending into the spelling "-or" that appears in words like "generator" and "reactor," which follow the same pattern.

Synonyms: burner, crematory, furnace, destroyer, waste disposer