elevatorn.
/ˈɛlɪveɪtə/ One who or that which elevates.
1. Anatomy.
a. A muscle which raises or moves a limb or an organ.
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the world > life > the body > structural parts > muscle > types of muscles > [noun]
sphincter1578
raiser1588
in-muscle?1609
oblique1612
abducens1615
abductor1615
adductor1615
antagonist1615
bender1615
depressor1615
extender1615
flexor1615
levator1615
quadratus1615
rectus1615
retractor1615
sphincter-muscle1615
accelerator1638
bicepsa1641
elevator1646
adducent1649
lifter1649
rotator1657
flector1666
contractor1682
dilater1683
orbicularis palpebrarum1694
transverse muscle1696
tensor muscle1704
biventer1706
extensor1713
attollent1728
constrictor1741
dilator1741
risibles1785
orbicularis oculi1797
obliquus1799
erector1828
extensor-muscle1830
compressor1836
trans-muscle1836
antagonizer1844
motor1846
evertor1848
inflector1851
protractor1853
prime mover1860
orbicular1872
transversalis1872
invertor1875
skeletal muscle1877
dilatator1878
occlusor muscle1878
sphincter1879
pilomotor1892
agonist1896
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. vii. 196 Being destitute of any motion, they conferre no reliefe unto the Agents or Elevators . View more context for this quotation
1746 J. Parsons Human Physiognomy i. 17 The Elevator arises tendinous and fleshy from the Edge of the Foramen lacerum.
1749 D. Hartley Observ. Man i. ii. §1. 148 The Elevators of the lower Jaw.
1870 G. Rolleston Forms Animal Life 13 The main elevator of the humerus and the wing.
b. In insects, one of the two flat joints of the maxillary or labial feelers.
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1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. III. 448 Thus in the hive bee and the humble bee the labials including the two flat joints or elevators have four joints.
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2. Surgery. ‘An instrument for raising any depressed portions of bone, particularly of the skull. Also, an instrument used in Dentistry for the removal of stumps of teeth’ ( New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon).
3.
a. A machine used for raising corn or flour to an upper storey.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > lifting or hoisting equipment > [noun] > elevator
elevator1787
1787 in Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1848 (1849) (30th Congr., 2nd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. No. 59) 574 One of which [machines], denominated by the said Oliver Evans an elevator, is calculated by its own motion to hoist the wheat or grain from the lower floor..to the upper loft of such mill.
1799 I. Weld Trav. N. Amer. iii. 21 The elevators are inclosed in square wooden tubes.
1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 100 These elevators consist of a chain of buckets, or concave vessels..fixed at proper distances upon a leathern band, which goes round two wheels.
b. U.S. A large building (containing one or more of these machines) used for the storage of grain.
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1884 Lisbon (Dakota Territory) Star 10 Oct. A. H. Laughlin..has bought the store building..near the elevator.
c. A machine used for raising hay or straw to the top of the stack. Also, an appendage to a thrashing machine.
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1862 J. Wilson Farming 161 A larger set of elevators is usually employed to carry up the roughs to the feeding board [in a thrashing machine].
1879 R. Jefferies Wild Life 114 The new-fangled elevator carries up the hay by machinery from the waggon to the top.
d. chiefly North American. A lift, hoist, ascending chamber. Also attributive.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > other means of conveyance > [noun] > lift or hoist
steam elevator1801
hoist1835
lift1851
elevator1853
tube-lift1915
stairlift1977
1853 Harper's Mag. June 130/2 The introduction of a steam elevator, by which an indolent, or fatigued, or aristocratic person may..be borne up..to the third, fourth, or fifth floor.
1862 A. Trollope N. Amer. I. 248 An elevator is as ugly a monster as has been yet produced.
1872 M. E. Holley My Opinions (1891) 295 She spoke up and says she, ‘Here is the elevater, be carried up.’
1879 Chicago Tribune 8 May 8/4 As is the custom with elevator-boys— a reprehensible one it is too—the lad in charge of the elevator started it before closing the door.
1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 275/1 He did not trust the elevator, but almost flew down the stairs.
1884 W. D. Howells in Harper's Mag. Dec. 118/1 The Elevator boy, pulling at the rope [says] ‘We're not there yet’.
1885 Cent. Mag. 30 579/1 With staircases and elevator-shafts which must remain open, [etc.].
1887 Contemp. Rev. May 699 Extensive elevator Companies.
1890 Congress. Rec. 8123/2 On this list there are firemen, watchmen, elevator men.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 129/1 A..plunger, which..carries the elevator-cage on its upper end.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 130/2 The walls..of the elevator shaft.
1945 Chicago Tribune 26 Jan. 27/1 (advt.) Elevator operator for office building.
1947 W. H. Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) ii. 47 When elevators raise blondes aloft to bachelor suites.
4.
a. Mechanics. An elevating screw.
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1871 English Mechanic 27 Jan. 448/2 The side elevators would not only raise but poise the car.
b. Aeronautics. A control surface of an aeroplane (now always on the tailplane) used to change its angle of pitch.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > parts of aircraft > [noun] > movable control surface > rudder or elevator
rudder1784
tail-flap1847
horizontal rudder1875
elevator1910
ruddervator1945
taileron1966
1910 R. Ferris How it Flies v. 83 The large elevator planes in front have been a distinctive feature of the Wright machine.
1910 R. Ferris How it Flies xx. 460 Elevator, a shorter name for the elevating planes or elevating rudder, used for directing the aeroplane upward or downward.
1911 Reports & Mem. (Adv. Comm. Aeronaut.) No. 59. 103 The most convenient arrangement of controls of elevator..might be investigated.
1915 G. Bacon All about Flying 3 In monoplanes, of course, the elevator has always been in the tail.
1934 J. A. Sinclair Airships in Peace & War iv. 84 I had remained inside the control car with only the elevator-man and we both left the ship [sc. a zeppelin].
1969 Listener 1 May 596/1 An elevator bracket broke.
5. Elevators, a proprietary name for a make of shoe with a raised insole intended to make the wearer appear taller. Also (now generically) elevator shoe. U.S.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > shoe > [noun] > types of > with specific types of sole > thick, raised sole > raised insole
elevator shoe1940
1940 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 5 Mar. 28/1 Stone-Tarlow Co., Inc., Brockton, Mass... Elevators. For leather shoes. Claims use since Dec. 13, 1939.
1953 P. G. Wodehouse Performing Flea 165 Some are wearing elevator shoes.
1969 Wall St. Jrnl. 30 Sept. 1/1 He used to wear elevator shoes to increase his height.
1975 ‘W. Allen’ Without Feathers (1976) 10 His..elevator shoes, curiously enough, made him two inches shorter.
1984 New Yorker 9 Apr. 76/1 There are a lot of midgets in politics who run around in elevator shoes.
Draft additions January 2005
elevator music n. originally U.S. recorded music played in elevators; (in extended use) any kind of bland, unobtrusive music; = lift music n. at lift n.2 Additions.
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1963 Lima (Ohio) News 13 Mar. 14/7 ‘Elevator music’, ‘airplane music’ and ‘factory music’ are all pretty monstrous.
1976 N.Y. Times 4 July xxi. 15/1 Waitresses sport Colonial miniskirts and there is overamplified elevator music in the dining room.
2004 Independent (Compact ed.) 24 Mar. (Review section) 15 (heading) Polluting the pop charts with unchallenging elevator music.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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