A battery
- noun
- Archaic
- The lantern requires a battery to supply power for the light.
- use A battery
- a battery of tests
Examples
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Any device designed to run off a battery is designed, generally, to use very little power for what it does.
Blog text (18) -
You can take that electrical signal to charge a battery and use that power.
Academic text (2002) -
The module also uses a battery.
Academic text (2005) -
Another wire connected to the back of each row will transfer power to a battery.
Blog text (6) -
It runs on a battery.
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Another method to obtain portable electricity can be a battery that charges inside a standard wall outlet.
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One thing EV buyers do is trade a plain, simple fuel tank for a battery bank.
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Will a trolling motor make electrical power and charge a battery if it is pulled through the water?
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For some time, the plant was able to operate in a battery-controlled cooling mode.
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Around the same time, Crest added a battery-operated toothbrush called SpinBrush to its oral care lineup of products.
Blog text (3)
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositional: 'A' denotes the ampere (electric current) and 'battery' denotes a power source, so 'A battery' straightforwardly means a battery that supplies current (historically for tube filaments). This is not idiomatic or metaphorical and follows a common naming pattern (function/type + battery), so a learner who knows both constituents can derive the meaning.
Etymology
A battery comes from early radios where technicians labeled the different battery packs A, B, C; the A battery was the small one that warmed the thin wires inside the tubes. That's why today A battery means the battery used 'to heat the filaments'.