interrupter

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én

Proto-Indo-European *-tér

Proto-Indo-European *h₁n̥tér

Proto-Italic *n̥ter

Latin inter

Latin inter-

Proto-Indo-European *Hrew-?

Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp-

Proto-Indo-European *-né-

Proto-Indo-European *Hrunépti

Latin rumpō

Latin interrumpō

Latin interruptusder.

Middle English interrupten

English interrupt

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂s(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-āsijos

Proto-Italic *-āsios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

▲

Latin -ārius

Old French -ierbor.

Middle English -er

English -er

English interrupter

From interrupt + -er.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Australia):

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Noun

interrupter (plural interrupters)

1. One who or that which interrupts.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     The interrupter bowed, smiled, stroked his beard, and relapsed into his chair.

2. A device for opening and closing an electrical circuit.
3. (slang, humorous) An interpreter (person who interprets speech in a foreign language).
   • 2005, Ian Oliver, Jan Oliver, War and Peace in the Balkans:

     The other half of the local staff was employed as interpreters, often affectionately known as 'interrupters.'

   • 2017, Dean Bailey, Crawling Out of Hell: The True Story of a British Sniper's Greatest Battle:

     The Coldstream Guards were already in place and knocked on the door. Daz Farrugia stood at the door with the Iraqi interrupter. […] The door opened and a middle aged Iraqi man stood there in his pajamas, gobbing off in Arabic, saying who knows what, but I guessed it was not very complimentary; the interpreter managed to calm him down.

Derived terms

• arc-fault circuit interrupter
• interrupter gear
• opto-interrupter
• photointerrupter

Translations

One who or that which interrupts

• Bulgarian: смутител (bg) m (smutitel)
• Galician: estripacontos
• Spanish: interrumpidor m

A device for opening and closing an electrical circuit

• Bulgarian: прекъсвач (bg) m (prekăsvač)
• Spanish: interruptor (es) m
• Tagalog: panggatol

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “interrupter”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “interrupter”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• reinterrupt