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Glite Dictionary
🗂️ A sorting machine 🔤 A sorting tool
collator

collator

1 9.9
A machine that sorts and merges decks of punch cards in early computers
  • noun
  • /kəˈleɪtər/
  • Archaic
: colector
  • Early computers used a collator to merge information from different card decks.

Examples

  • Technicians loaded decks of cards into the collator for sorting and matching.

  • The collator processed thousands of punch cards each hour in the data center.

  • The collator processed the punch cards efficiently.

  • We need a new collator for our data processing.

  • Early computers used a collator to merge information from different card decks.

  • Technicians loaded decks of cards into the collator for sorting and matching.

  • The collator processed thousands of punch cards each hour in the data center.

Surface Forms

collator singular
collators plural

Morphology

collator = collate (transparent) = collate + or

Formed by the productive suffix '-or' added to the verb 'collate', yielding an agent or instrument that performs collation.

Etymology

Collator comes from the verb collate, built from Latin parts com- ('together') and -late ('bring'), so a collator is literally 'one who brings things together'. That's why an early collator machine merged and matched many punch-card decks into the right order.