Dictionary

interrupter en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From interrupt + -er.

Meanings

1. One who or that which interrupts.
   • The interrupter bowed, smiled, stroked his beard, and relapsed into his chair. 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
2. A device for opening and closing an electrical circuit.
3. (humorous, slang) An interpreter (person who interprets speech in a foreign language).
   • 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. 2017, Dean Bailey, Crawling Out of Hell: The True Story of a British Sniper's Greatest Battle:
   • The other half of the local staff was employed as interpreters, often affectionately known as 'interrupters.' 2005, Ian Oliver, Jan Oliver, War and Peace in the Balkans:

Forms

Deriveds

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

Translations (6)

tl panggatol (A device for opening and closing an electrical circuit) · gl estripacontos (One who or that which interrupts) · bg смутител (One who or that which interrupts) · es interrumpidor (One who or that which interrupts) · es interruptor (A device for opening and closing an electrical circuit) · bg прекъсвач (A device for opening and closing an electrical circuit)