🧪 A purifier 🚽 A person excreting

defecator

9.9

A device that removes impurities from liquids like juice or syrup

noun
/ˈdɛfɪˌkeɪtər/

Archaic

: defecador

The sugar refinery once used a defecator to clarify raw juice.

Examples

Old manufacturing texts describe a defecator as essential for improving syrup quality.
Early chemists relied on a defecator to purify their solutions.
The defecator improved the quality of the syrup significantly.
Many defecators were used in ancient food processing.
Early chemists relied on a defecator to purify their solutions.
Old manufacturing texts describe a defecator as essential for improving syrup quality.
The sugar refinery once used a defecator to clarify raw juice.

Synonyms

disposer

vsdefecator

1 4.3

A person or machine that gets rid of waste, especially food scraps

is meant to cleanse and purify liquids rather than discard general waste

purger

vsdefecator

7.5

A person or thing that removes unwanted parts to make something clean

is an obsolete device used specifically to purify juices and syrups

How Effective

purifier

Specialized

8 3.5

defecator

Archaic

9.9

clarifier

Specialized

7.2

filter

139 2.8

strainer

13 1.7

Surface Forms

defecator singular

defecators plural

Morphology

defecator = defecate (semi-transparent) = defecate + or

The root 'defecate' is clear, but the specific meaning of a device for purification is not immediately obvious to all learners.

Etymology

The word defecator originally named a tool used to clean juices and syrups in sugar factories. It comes from Latin defaecare, made of de- 'remove' and faex 'dregs', meaning the solid bits left in a liquid, so a defecator was something that 'removed the dregs' to make the liquid clear.