transformer

[trans-fawr-mer] /trænsˈfɔr mər/

noun

a person or thing that transforms.

Electricity. an electric device consisting essentially of two or more windings wound on the same core, which by electromagnetic induction transforms electric energy from one set of one or more circuits to another set of one or more circuits such that the frequency of the energy remains unchanged while the voltage and current usually change.

Origin

1595-1605; transform + -er¹

Examples from the web for transformer

The tipple crackled in the cold as the sun's heat left it, and on a pole beside it an unused transformer still hummed.
In a transformer, this reversing field induces a current in another coil around the same core, but at a different voltage.
Tesla's invention is, in essence, a rotating transformer.
The second transformer was now carrying a hundred and twenty-four per cent of its rated capacity.
It will be a transformer vehicle with completely independent flying and driving components.
Therefore, it seemed unlikely that it was a nearby electrical transformer.
It seems to me it merely describes that testing the supposedly functioning replacement transformer caused the leak.
Each star must be of frequency transformer to cause field and velocity rejection and escape.
When the brush is inserted in the base it completes the transformer, and energy is transferred magnetically through the plastic.
Voltage transformer kits are about the size of a paperback book and weigh less than a pound.

British Dictionary definitions for transformer

transformer

/trænsˈfɔːmə/

noun

a device that transfers an alternating current from one circuit to one or more other circuits, usually with an increase (step-up transformer) or decrease (step-down transformer) of voltage. The input current is fed to a primary winding, the output being taken from a secondary winding or windings inductively linked to the primary

a person or thing that transforms

Word Origin and History for transformer

"device to reduce electrical currents," 1883, from French transformateur (1882); see transform.

transformer in Science

transformer

(trāns-fôr'mər)

A device used to change the voltage of an alternating current in one circuit to a different voltage in a second circuit, or to partially isolate two circuits from each other. Transformers consist of two or more coils of conducting material, such as wire, wrapped around a core (often made of iron). The magnetic field produced by an alternating current in one coil induces a similar current in the other coils. ◇ If there are fewer turns on the coil that carries the source of the power than there are on a second coil, the second coil will provide the same power but at a higher voltage. This is called a step-up transformer. ◇ If there are fewer turns on the second coil than on the source coil, the outgoing power will have a lower voltage. This is called a step-down transformer. Compare converter, rectifier.

transformer in Culture

transformer definition

A device used to transfer electrical energy from one circuit to another. With an alternating current, a transformer will either raise or lower the voltage as it makes the transfer.