calculator
/kæl.kjə.leɪ.tɚ/ noun
Forms calculators
- noun A mechanical or electronic device that performs mathematical calculations; (now usually) an electronic one specifically. “electronic calculator; pocket calculator”
- noun (historical) A person who performs mathematical calculation. “During the war, his grandmother had worked at the Bletchley Park decoding station as a calculator.”
- noun A person who calculates (in the sense of scheming). “He revealed himself to be a cold-blooded calculator out to sabotage his colleagues.”
- noun (obsolete) A set of mathematical tables.
Synonyms
electronic calculator computer reckoner schemer plotter manipulator ready reckoner figurer estimator calculating machine
Etymology
In the sense of a person, from Middle English calkelatour (“a mathematician, an astrologer”), borrowed from Latin calculātor, equivalent to calculate + -or. The other meanings arose in Modern English.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One who computes or reckons: one who estimates or considers the force and effect of causes, with a view to form a correct estimate of the effects.
Etymology [L.: cf. F. calculateur.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “calculator”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details