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percolator

percolator

4 5.6
A coffee pot where boiling water rises through a tube and flows through ground coffee
  • noun
  • /ˈpɜrkəˌleɪtər/
translation icon : percolador
  • Ellen went through to the kitchen and switched on the percolator, Scott and Carol following her.
  • coffee percolator
  • old-fashioned percolator
  • aluminum percolator

Examples

  • Since there are so many choices now, percolators don’t seem to be used as much as they used to be.

    Blog text (13)
  • I used to make coffee in a percolator," I tell her.

  • Grab a percolator off the shelf.

  • My parents made coffee with a percolator when they were young in the 60s.

    Blog text (10)
  • Ellen went through to the kitchen and switched on the percolator, Scott and Carol following her.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Next to it was a gleaming stainless steel percolator.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • While Leni washed in the downstairs bathroom, I put the beans into my old makeshift percolator, the one I'd salvaged from the officers' quarters nearly eight years before.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • As the water in the percolator comes to a boil, he laughs to himself in the living room.

Synonyms

coffee maker
vspercolator
15 1.0

A machine that brews coffee by itself

is defined by the boiling water rising through a tube rather than just automation
coffeemaker
vspercolator
9 2.1

A machine that makes coffee at home or work

uses boiling water rising through a tube to brew coffee
coffeepot
vspercolator
5 1.0

A tall container with a spout for making and serving coffee

focuses on the specific boiling water rising through a tube brewing method
perc
vspercolator
  • Informal
9.3

A coffee pot that brews by bubbling hot water through coffee grounds

is the formal or technical term rather than the informal label

How Automatic

coffeemaker
9 2.1
percolator
4 5.6
cafetiere
  • UK
6.7

Surface Forms

percolator singular
percolators plural

Morphology

percolator = percolate (transparent) = percolate + or

Meaning is directly derived: a percolator is an instrument that percolates (brews) coffee, with -or marking an instrument.

Etymology

Percolator comes from the verb percolate, built from the Latin parts per- 'through' and colare 'to strain', plus the ending -ator 'a thing that does something'. So a percolator is a pot that makes water go 'through' coffee grounds to 'strain' out the flavor, just like a strong filter.