indicatorn.
/ˈɪndɪkeɪtə/ 1.
a. One who or that which points out, or directs attention to, something.
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society > communication > indication > pointing out > [noun] > one who or that which
showerc1400
hand1563
fescue1648
signpost1658
fingerpost1738
indicator1819
marker1832
finger pointer1843
1819 (title) The indicator.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus iii. v. 85/2 We ourselves, restricted to the duty of Indicator, shall forbear commentary.
1855 R. C. Singleton tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. I. 72 O youth, The indicator of the crooked plough.
1879 J. A. Froude Cæsar ii. 9 Birds..were celestial indicators of the gods' commands.
1907 New Pictorial & Descr. Guide to Malvern 56 Many of the more prominent objects and principal sites may be identified by..the help afforded by the Indicator, or Toposcope, erected on the summit of the hill.
1927 Glasgow Herald 4 June 9 (headline) Mountain Indicator.
1927 Glasgow Herald 4 June 9 The indicator..points out over ninety places famous in Border song and story.
1967 Listener 10 Aug. 167/2 There's a recent book which displays, at a glance, what's distinctive about the scientific analysis of international affairs. It's the World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators.
b. Anatomy. The muscle which extends the index or forefinger; the extensor indicis.
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the world > life > the body > structural parts > muscle > muscles of specific parts > [noun] > muscles of fingers or toes
profundus1694
indicator1696
perforating muscle1704
lumbrical1706
perforated muscle1739
indicator-muscle1882
transductor1899
1696 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) Indicator, one of the Muscles extending the Fore-finger.
1782 Monro's Anat. Human Bones (new ed.) 191 The tendons of the indicator.
c. In a microscope, A pointer which indicates the position of a special object in the field of view.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > magnification or magnifying instruments > [noun] > microscope > parts of
object plate1664
slider1703
pout1832
indicator1837
substage1853
focuser1861
nosepiece1867
searcher1870
Abbe condenser1879
eyeshade1885
1837 C. R. Goring & A. Pritchard Micrographia 51 It would perhaps be advisable to have the tire of the wheel made broad enough to admit of four sets of divisions, over which the indicator should extend with a sharp edge.
1883 J. Hogg Microscope (new ed.) i. iii. 191 Finders and Indicators.
d. Philosophy. = token-reflexive adj. word; see quots. Also indicator-word.
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > other grammatical categories or concepts > [noun] > types of grammatical reference > word referring to another > which is only understood in context
shifter1922
indicator-word1951
1951 N. Goodman Struct. Appearance xi. 290 Roughly speaking, a word is an indicator if..it names something not named by some replica of the word... Among the commonest indicators are the personal indicators, the spatial indicators, and the temporal indicators. Of the personal indicators, an ‘I’ or ‘me’ normally refers to its own utterer.
1952 A. J. Ayer in Mind LXI. 444 I shall refer to predicates instead of properties and to individual signs, to which I shall give the name of indicators, instead of individuals.
1954 Mind LXIII. 380 Like Professor Ayer I shall..speak of indicators and predicates rather than of individuals and properties.
1960 W. V. Quine Word & Object §21. 101 The indicator words: ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’, ‘now’, ‘here’, ‘then’, ‘there’, ‘today’, ‘tomorrow’.
2.
a. That which serves to indicate or give a suggestion of something; an indication of.
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society > communication > indication > [noun] > an indication or sign
tokeningc888
fingereOE
senyeOE
markOE
showing?c1225
blossomc1230
signa1325
signifyingc1384
evidencea1393
notea1398
forbysena1400
kenninga1400
knowinga1400
showerc1400
unningc1400
signala1413
signification?a1425
demonstrancec1425
cenyc1440
likelinessc1450
ensign1474
signifure?a1475
outshowinga1500
significativea1500
witter1513
precedent1518
intimation1531
signifier1532
meith1533
monument1536
indicion?1541
likelihood1541
significator1554
manifest1561
show1561
evidency1570
token-teller1574
betokener1587
calendar1590
instance1590
testificate1590
significant1598
crisis1606
index1607
impression1613
denotementa1616
story1620
remark1624
indicium1625
denotation1633
indice1636
signum1643
indiction1653
trace1656
demonstrator1657
indication1660
notationa1661
significatory1660
indicator1666
betrayer1678
demonstration1684
smell1691
wittering1781
notaa1790
blazonry1850
sign vehicle1909
marker1919
rumble1927
1666 J. Smith Γηροκομία Βασιλικὴ (ed. 2) 73 They are the true indicators of strength.
1768 H. Brooke Fool of Quality III. xiv. 68 Our silence and our looks were too sure indicators of the fatal tidings.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. i. 5 The shells became the indicators of an action to which the mass..had been subjected.
1882 J. A. Froude T. Carlyle: First Forty Years II. vi. 130 They [sc. clothes] were the outward indicators of the inward and spiritual nature.
b. Anything used in a scientific experiment to indicate the presence of a substance or quality, change in a body, etc.; spec.
(a) a substance which may be added to a solution to indicate whether the concentration of hydrogen ions or of some other ion in the solution is above or below a particular value, esp. by giving different colours for the two conditions.
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the world > matter > chemistry > chemical tests > indicators > [noun]
indicator1846
chemosensor1969
1846 W. R. Grove On Correlation Physical Forces 19 The substance we use as an indicator does not undergo the same physical change as those whose dynamical relations we are examining.
c1860 M. Faraday Var. Forces Nature v. 129 You need be in no want of indicators to discover the presence of this attraction.
1866 H. E. Roscoe Lessons Elem. Chem. iii. 22 Solids expand too little and gases too much to be convenient indicators.
1874 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 27 191 (heading) Alizarin as an indicator in volumetric analysis.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 12/2 Para-nitro-phenol has colourless molecules, but an intensely yellow negative ion. In neutral, and still more in acid solutions, the dissociation of the indicator is practically nothing, and the liquid is colourless.
1930 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 52 2347 The use of various organic substances..as irreversible oxidation-reduction indicators in the titration of trivalent antimony with ceric sulfate was proposed by Rathsberg.
1938 R. E. Oesper tr. W. Böttger Newer Methods Volumetric Chem. Anal. i. 19 The fluorescent indicators are related to the ordinary acidimetric color indicators. However, a change of the pH value of the solution produces in them no color change, but a fluorescence appears or disappears.
1939 P. J. Durrant Gen. & Inorg. Chem. ix. 214 An indicator may be used for determining the pH value of a solution, or for deciding at what stage during an acid-alkali titration the pH value of a solution has reached a certain value.
1966 Ward Lock's Compl. Gardening v. 78 Certain chemical indicators are available for testing a soil in the field as to its approximate pH.
1970 R. U. Brumblay First Course Quant. Anal. vi. 83 Adsorption indicators are organic compounds with rather complex molecules which undergo a change in color due to a slight structural change which occurs when they are adsorbed on the surfaces of colloidal particles.
(b) An isotope (usually a radioactive one) used as a tracer (see tracer n.1).
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the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactive isotope > radioactive label > [noun] > isotope used as tracer
indicator1919
tritium1933
radiophosphorus1934
1919 F. Soddy in Jrnl. Chem. Soc. CXV. 18 The chemistry of actinium has been enormously simplified by the discovery that mesothorium-2 is isotopic with it, for the latter may be used as an indicator to show in what way the actinium distributes itself after any chemical treatment.
1926 R. W. Lawson tr. G. von Hevesy & F. A. Paneth Man. Radioactivity xv. 122 In problems of this kind, where the radio-element is not the object but the agent of the investigation, we say that the radio-elements serve as ‘indicators’.
1938 R. W. Lawson tr. G. von Hevesy & F. A. Paneth Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) xviii. 168 In those rare cases in which inactive isotopes are readily accessible they can be used as indicators in fundamentally the same manner, though other methods of measurement must be used... Such experiments have been carried out with deuterium 2D and the oxygen and nitrogen isotopes 17O, and 15N.
1943 Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) VI. 432/1 The hydride of bismuth was discovered by using thorium-C as indicator and causing hydrogen to be generated in an apparatus in which this radioactive indicator had been placed. The gas which escaped was found..to have radioactive properties.
1956 E. de B. Barnett Mech. Org. Chem. Reactions i. 13 The use of an isotopic indicator or tracer often gives useful information as regards mechanism.
c. A geological clue to the presence of gold.
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the world > the earth > minerals > mineral sources > [noun] > indicators of presence
mother of gold1596
show1600
shoad1602
squad1674
prospect1709
indication1855
showing1877
lode-light1883
indicator1894
1894 R. A. F. Murray in A. W. Howitt Miners' Handbk. 5 Where the gold ceases is usually near and above the line of reef or vein whence it was derived... ‘Indicators’ or small veins of pyrites, ironstone, and often thin bands of peculiar slate, intersected by small quartz veins, should..be carefully looked for.
1905 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 399 It was..noticed by Llewellyn that a gold pocket appeared to have been deposited at the point where a thin iron-stained line in the slate met a vein of quartz... Llewellyn called these bands indicators.
1943 M. W. Von Bernewitz & H. C. Chellson Handbk. Prospectors (ed. 4) xvii. 200 A lead-bismuth mineral is an indicator in the Quartzburg district of Idaho. The gold is intimately associated with it, yet free.
d. Ecology. A group of plants or animals whose presence acts as a sign of particular environmental conditions. Also attributive.
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the world > life > biology > balance of nature > organisms in relation to habitat > [noun]
colonist1839
benthos1891
land form1897
heterotroph1900
autotroph1901
epibenthos1902
specialist1902
microaerophile1903
nitrifier1903
consumer1904
nitrogen fixer1904
producer1904
indicator1906
psychrophile1906
thermophil1909
sulphuretum1925
influent1926
halobiont1928
halophile1928
mesophile1928
oligosaprobe1931
saprobe1932
eurytope1938
stenotope1938
photoautotroph1939
chemoautotroph1943
prototroph1946
mixotrophy1948
chemolithoautotroph1949
auxotroph1950
chemoheterotroph1951
chemoorganotroph1953
chemolithotroph1955
chemotroph1958
osmophile1961
psychrotroph1963
saprotroph1963
generalist1964
opportunist1967
cryophile1970
1906 E. W. Hilgard Soils 545 Its [sc. alkali-heath's] perennial, deep-rooting habit of growth, and flexible, somewhat wiry rootstock, which enables it to persist even in cultivated ground, render it a valuable plant as an alkali indicator.
1920 F. E. Clements Plant Indicators iv. 112 These [areas of disturbance] furnish an enormous amount of indicator material.
1949 W. C. Allee et al. Princ. Animal Ecol. iv. xxix. 567/2 Typical or characteristic organisms..are biotic indicators.
1964 J. M. Maclennan tr. S. V. Viktorov Short Guide Geo-bot. Surv. vi. 122 The composition, structure, and other features of the plant cover may often serve as indicators of various environmental conditions.
1970 Nature 25 July 381/1 They [sc. chaetognaths] have also frequently been used as ‘indicator species’ for water masses.
e. A board or device in a railway station used to indicate the times and platform numbers of arriving and departing trains.
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society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > station > device showing times of trains
train indicator1849
indicator1913
1913 Ld. Monkswell Railways Great Brit. iii. 163 A large indicator showing the platform at which each train will depart, is displayed high up on the side of one of the buildings flanking the concourse.
1914 H. M. Hallsworth Elem. Railway Operating iii. 46 Since there are trains for different destinations frequently departing from the same platform at or about the same time passengers are liable to board the wrong train. This is a danger which must be provided for by suitable indicators.
1961 Trains Illustr. Jan. 22/2 (caption) The new train indicator board for the Cambridge main line departure platforms.
1972 Travelling Winter 43/3 New automatic departure and arrival indicators will be installed.
1973 Railway Mag. Mar. 151/2 A new form of train departure indicator is replacing the printed sheets at many stations on BR.
f. In telegraphic addresses, a code word used to indicate the required method of transmission or delivery.
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1922 P. O. Guide 76 Telegrams directed to registered addresses can be delivered to subscribers by telephone. In London the indicator ‘Phone’ denotes telephonic delivery from the Central Telegraph Office.
g. Economics. A variable, index, etc., which is considered to provide information about a sector, market, or economy; spec. which is used to predict future outcomes or trends. Cf. economic indicator n. at economic n. and adj. Compounds.
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1928 N.Y. Times 23 Oct. 49/3 The United States is now running at ‘about the highest level in history’ based upon leading indicators of business activity.
1954 Jrnl. Business 27 103/1 Certain key indicators are employed to bridge the gap between estimates, thus making the forecast a more continuous process.
1983 Times 3 Mar. 17/2 The US index of leading indicators—the most closely watched barometer of economic growth—surged in January.
2004 Euromoney (Electronic ed.) Oct. 1 Such fund flow analysis was a useful indicator..of the coming boom in Asian equity markets.
h. Cryptography (see quot. 1961).
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the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > code, cipher > [noun] > conversion into code > device > component of
rotor1934
one-time pad1953
indicator1961
1961 D. Shulman & J. Weintraub Gloss. Cryptogr. Indicator, a means of showing a change of key or encipherment, usually with a letter of the alphabet agreed upon in advance.
3. technical. A mechanical device or recording instrument which indicates the condition of the apparatus, etc., to which it is attached; e.g.:
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a. An instrument which indicates the pressure of steam on the piston of a steam-engine at each portion of its stroke.
b. In mines: see quot. 1867.
c. In a blast furnace, a gauge which indicates the proper height of a charge (E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. 1875).
d. The dial and mechanism by which messages are indicated in a dial-telegraph.
Categories »
e. An instrument which indicates the position at any moment of the cage in the shaft of a mine (Raymond Mining Gloss. 1881).
f. A contrivance in a lending library for showing what books are out or in.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > [noun] > instrument measuring or recording automatically
meter1832
indicator1839
1839 R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Engine Explained 153 A most use~ful instrument, called an indicator, can be attached to the cylinder, which will point out the exact working state of the engine, how much of the steam is lost between the boiler and cylinder, [etc.].
1867 Morning Star 30 Jan. The barometers in mines are sometimes furnished with an indicator, which tells the furnaceman when it reaches a certain point that he should light up a great fire.
1876 R. Routledge Discov. 19th Cent. 9 The actual power of a steam engine is ascertained by an instrument called the Indicator.
1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy 85 If the pointer in the indicator jumps..the currents are either too strong, or the pointer is too lightly adjusted.
1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 147 Indicator, an instrument for showing at any moment the position of the cage in the shaft.
1886 Leeds Mercury 20 Jan. 5/4 Causing him to lose sight of the indicator, which would show him the position of the cages in the shaft.
1886 T. Greenwood Public Libraries (1891) xix. 392 (Indicators) There are several methods of showing to the public, by means of the devise called the indicator, what books in a lending department are in use or on the shelves.
1886 T. Greenwood Public Libraries (1891) xix. 393 [In] 1870..Mr. John Elliot, public librarian of Wolverhampton, brought forward his indicator.
1898 Macfarlane Libr. Administr. 208
g. A device fitted to a motor vehicle to indicate an intended change in direction. Cf. direction indicator n.Now usually consisting of two pairs of lights, one pair placed at the front and the other at the rear of a vehicle, that flash on one side or the other when operated by the driver.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > direction indicator
indicator1932
trafficator1933
direction indicator1937
signal1939
turn signal1949
winker1951
flasher1958
indicator lamp1961
indicator light1961
1932 Daily Express 20 Sept. 3 Everyone's talking about the new flashing Direction Indicator which only Morris cars carry. This device gives safer signalling.
1958 Observer 17 Aug. 15/6 Triggers under the steering-wheel work the self-cancelling indicators and the headlamp flasher.
1962 Which? Car Suppl. Oct. 133/1 All the indicators' flasher times fell within the legal limits.
1962 Which? Car Suppl. Oct. 133/2 The rear indicators could be seen from the side.
1973 ‘R. Lewis’ Blood Money vi. 69 A police car..turned into the gateway, indicator flashing.
4. Ornithology. A honey-guide, a bird of the genus Indicator, or family Indicatoridæ; esp. the South African species, I. Sparmanni.First described by Sparrman (1777) who gave it the name of Cuculus indicator (Newton Dict. Birds 429).
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the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Piciformes > [noun] > family Indicatoridae (honey-guide)
honeybird1735
honeyguide1777
bee-cuckoo1786
indicator1835
1835 A. Steedman Wanderings S. Afr. ii. v. 189 The little honey~sucker, or indicator, kept fluttering before us with its cry of cherr, cherr.
1835 A. Steedman Wanderings S. Afr. ii. v. 190 The trunk of a tree over which the indicator was hovering.
5. Mathematics. [translating French indicateur (E. Prouhet 1846, in Nouv. Ann. de Math. V. 176).] = totient n.
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the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > particular qualities > totative or totient
totitive1879
totient1883
indicator1919
1919 Amer. Math. Monthly 26 290 E. Prouhet..defined the term indicator of n as the number ø(n) of the positive integers less than n and prime to n.
1939 H. N. Wright First Course in Theory of Numbers i. 11 Other names for ø(m) are the totient of m and the indicator of m.
1948 O. Ore Number Theory v. 110 We shall consider the problem of finding how many of the numbers 1, 2, 3,…, m—1, m are relatively prime to m. This number is usually denoted by ϕ(m), and it is known as Euler's ϕ-function of m because Euler around 1760 for the first time proposed the question and gave its solution. Other names, for instance, indicator or totient have occasionally been used.
Compounds
attributive and in other combinations.
indicator-card n. the card on which an indicator-diagram is traced (Webster, 1864).
indicator-cock n. (see quot.).
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1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. Indicator Cock, the cock by which a communication is made or broken between the piston of the indicator and the engine cylinder into which it is screwed.
indicator-cylinder n. the cylinder of a steam-engine indicator.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > steam engine > [noun] > parts of > cylinders
cylinder1697
working cylinder1787
indicator-cylinder1875
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1180/2 Near the mid-length of the indicator-cylinder.
indicator-diagram n. a figure traced by the indicator of a steam-engine, showing the pressure at different points of the stroke (Webster, 1864).
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > steam engine > [noun] > diagram showing pressure
indicator-diagram1875
1875 R. F. Martin tr. J. Havrez On Recent Improvem. Winding Machinery 77 The mean pressure is most easily deduced from the theoretical indicator diagram of the half stroke.
indicator lamp n.
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society > communication > indication > signalling > visual signalling > luminous signals > [noun] > lamp indicating operating conditions
indicator lamp1961
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > direction indicator
indicator1932
trafficator1933
direction indicator1937
signal1939
turn signal1949
winker1951
flasher1958
indicator lamp1961
indicator light1961
1961 Which? Dec. 313/2 The Falco Royalty had no indicator lamp.
indicator light n. a luminous signal indicating operating conditions (see quots. and sense 3g above).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > direction indicator
indicator1932
trafficator1933
direction indicator1937
signal1939
turn signal1949
winker1951
flasher1958
indicator lamp1961
indicator light1961
1961 Which? Dec. 313/2 For most cookers, we found that the indicator light going out gave a satisfactory indication that the oven was nearly at its steady temperature.
1962 Which? Car Suppl. Oct. 133/2 Both front and rear indicator lights were visible from the side in the VW 1500.
indicator-muscle n. = 1b.
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the world > life > the body > structural parts > muscle > muscles of specific parts > [noun] > muscles of fingers or toes
profundus1694
indicator1696
perforating muscle1704
lumbrical1706
perforated muscle1739
indicator-muscle1882
transductor1899
1882 Quain's Elements Anat. (ed. 9) I. 224 The extensor indicis or indicator muscle arises from the outer division of the posterior surface of the ulna.
indicator-point n. (see quot.).
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1900 E. Buckingham Outl. Theory Thermodynamics 21 The point representing the instantaneous state of the system is called the indicator point.
indicator-pointer n. the pointer in a telegraph indicator.
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society > communication > indication > signalling > visual signalling > semaphore > [noun] > pointer in a telegraph indicator
indicator-pointer1876
1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy 85 If..the indicator pointer lags behind and drops letters, the currents sent are too weak, or the springs are too stiffly adjusted.
indicator switch n. a switch for an indicator light.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > stalks and switches
horn-ring1928
indicator switch1959
stalk1964
stalk switch1976
1959 Motor Man. (ed. 36) vi. 183 When the indicator switch is moved, either for a right- or left-hand turn, current is fed to the lamps [etc.].
indicator-telegraph n. a form of telegraph in which the letters of a message are indicated by a pointer on a dial-plate.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telegraphy > telegraph > [noun] > types of
field telegraph1795
enunciator1847
needle telegraph1847
indicator-telegraph1875
multiple telegraph1876
harmonic telegraph1878
Fullerphone1917
telecon1946
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1182/1 Cooke and Wheatstone's indicator-telegraph.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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