accelerator

• First attested in 1611.
• (motor vehicle): First attested in 1900.
• accelerate +‎ -or

• (US) IPA^(key): /əkˈsɛl.əˌɹeɪ.tɚ/, /ækˈsɛl.əˌɹeɪ.tɚ/, /ɪkˈsɛl.əˌɹeɪ.tɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

accelerator (plural accelerators)

1. One who, or that which, accelerates.

   The Second World War is said to have been a great accelerator for many scientific findings.

2. A device for causing acceleration.
3. (chemistry) A substance which speeds up chemical reactions.
4. (vehicles) A pedal causing the vehicle to accelerate when it is pressed.

   As soon as you get onto the slipway, push the accelerator.

5. (photography) A chemical that reduces development time.
6. (physics) A device that accelerates charged subatomic particles; a particle accelerator.
7. (physiology, medicine) A muscle or nerve that speeds the performance of an action.
8. (computing) An accelerator key.
   • 2002, Davis Howard Chapman, Sams Teach Yourself Visual C++ .NET in 21 Days, page 187:

     If they had allowed single-character accelerators, Windows wouldn't be able to determine whether the character was input or a shortcut.

9. (computing) A computer component using dedicated hardware to accelerate the processing and display of graphics.
10. (historical) A light van to take mails between a post office and a railway station.
11. (business) A mentoring program for startup companies.
    • 2016 October 3, Tad Friend, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker‎^[1]:

      In the nineties, before the accelerator era, startups were usually launched by mid-career engineers or repeat entrepreneurs, who sought millions in venture capital and then labored in secret on something complicated that took years to launch.

(accelerator pedal):

• (North America) gas pedal, gas
• throttle
• go pedal

(accelerates subatomic particles):

• particle accelerator
• atom smasher

• retrocaecal

accelerātor

1. second/third-person singular future passive imperative of accelerō

Borrowed from French accélérateur. Equivalent to accelera +‎ -tor.

accelerator m or n (feminine singular acceleratoare, masculine plural acceleratori, feminine/neuter plural acceleratoare)

1. accelerative

• IPA^(key): /aɡθeleɾaˈtoɾ/ [aɣ̞.θe.le.ɾaˈt̪oɾ] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /aɡseleɾaˈtoɾ/ [aɣ̞.se.le.ɾaˈt̪oɾ] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: ac‧ce‧le‧ra‧tor

accelerator (feminine acceleratora, masculine plural acceleratores, feminine plural acceleratoras)

1. obsolete form of acelerador

accelerator m (plural acceleratores)

1. obsolete form of acelerador

• “accelerator”, in Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española [Thesaurus of the Historical Dictionaries of the Spanish Language], Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], launched 2021

accelerator c

1. (physics) an accelerator (device that accelerates various particles to high velocities)
2. (chemistry) an accelerator (substance that speeds up chemical reactions)

• acceleration
• accelerera

• “accelerator”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “accelerator”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)