tabulator

From tabulate + -or.

tabulator (plural tabulators)

1. A person who counts or tabulates things.
2. The mechanism on a typewriter that sets the position of columns and borders.
3. (computing) A tab character.
   • 2004, Kari Laitinen, A Natural Introduction to Computer Programming with C#, page 110:

     You can put a tabulator in all those places where a space is allowed. A tabulator character corresponds to, for example, 4 spaces in the program editor.

4. (computing, historical) An early data processing machine that produces printed lists and totals from data on punched cards.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ta.buˈla.tɔr/
• Rhymes: -atɔr
• Syllabification: ta‧bu‧la‧tor

tabulator m inan

1. tabulator (mechanism on a typewriter that sets the position of columns and borders)
2. (computing) tabulator (tab character)
3. (computing, historical) tabulator (early data processing machine that produces printed lists and totals from data on punched cards)

• “tabulator”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[1] (in Polish)

Borrowed from French tabulateur.

tabulator n (plural tabulatoare)

1. tabulator